KUTZTOWN, Pa. (February 22, 2011) – As members of the Kutztown University men's basketball team gathered for practice Monday afternoon, they showed little effects of its heartbreaking one-point loss to East Stroudsburg less than 48 hours earlier.
There was Steve Coffey (Reading, PA/Wilson) trying to dunk minus the Kia Optima. Nate Edwards (Philadelphia, PA/North Catholic) was his usual reserved and quiet self. To be fair to Coffey, he did attempt and make many jump shots. Yep, the Golden Bears are relaxed, confident and excited about the challenge in front of them during the final week of the 2010-11 regular season.
The math is pretty simple for Kutztown. Win two games and the Golden Bears can order a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division championship banner. Of course, to accomplish this task, the Golden Bears (15-9 overall, 8-4 PSAC East) may want to make sure they pack their free-throw shooting touch for the 3.5 hour trip to Mansfield University's Decker Gym in a PSAC East showdown Wednesday night beginning at 7:30 p.m. Fans can listen to all of the action live on www.redzonemedia.com.
Kutztown has already clinched a playoff spot for the ninth straight season. Now it wants to prevent from Mansfield (17-7, 9-3) and its fans from storming the floor in celebration again. If the Mountaineers win, they win the PSAC East outright. Last season, Mansfield shared the PSAC East title with East Stroudsburg and Cheyney. Mansfield has also clinched a playoff spot and a home game. KU can make sure its home next Tuesday night when the PSAC playoffs start if it wins one of its last two games.
While Decker Gym is one of the toughest places in the PSAC to win, the Golden Bears have happy memories of their last visit to north central Pennsylvania. As a No. 4 seed, Kutztown terminated top-seeded Mansfield's season in the first round of the PSAC playoffs last March with a 65-61 victory. Overall, Kutztown has won three straight games in this heated series, and eight of the last nine matchups overall. Many of the fans at Decker Gym will be dressed in all black (thanks to Mansfield-themed “Black Out”) to welcome the Golden Bears.
Kutztown rode Tamir Johnson (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter)'s awesome 30-point, and 16-rebound performance to claim a 95-88 overtime victory in a classic that featured 12 lead changes and 11 ties on Feb. 3. Mansfield enters the game with a four-game winning streak. For the Golden Bears to end another Mansfield winning streak, it will need to capitalize on its foul shooting. Kutztown is a respectable 70 percent from the foul line in its six PSAC East away games.
However, in two of those games, including Saturday's loss at ESU, Kutztown channeled its inner Shaquielle O'Neal. The Golden Bears were 25-for-40 against the Warriors from the foul line. In an earlier loss to Cheyney, they were 28-for-46 from the free-throw line. In the loss to ESU, Johnson posted his seventh and second consecutive double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
This year, Kutztown has used balance to challenge for the PSAC East title. Five players average double figures for the Golden Bears led by Johnson's 16.2 point per game average. Edwards (12.8 points per game), Julius Gray (Lincoln University, PA/Oxford Area) (11.3), Eric Brennan (Chester, PA/West Catholic) (10.6) and Devon McBride (Richmond, VA/Hill School) (10.5) have all contributed something special during this season.
Meanwhile, Mansfield celebrated Senior Day by beating Shippensburg, 92-67 behind Derrison Anthony's career-high 32-point performance. He was named PSAC East Player of the Week after averaging 25 points per game in two wins last week. Anthony was virtually unstoppable in the Shippensburg game connecting 13-of-15 shots from the floor including 3-of-4 on his 3-point attempts. He was also 3-for-4 from the free throw line while adding six rebounds and four assists.
It was the second straight week that a Mansfield athlete was named PSAC East Player of the Week. Yuseff Carr won the honor last week. Carr was limited to seven points in the first meeting against Kutztown. Since that outing the senior has been averaging 19 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Overall, Carr is Mansfield's leading scorer (15.1 points per game). Anthony (14.3) and Tony Fannick (11.9) also average double figures for Mansfield. Fannick scored 25 points on 9-for-10 shooting in the first meeting against the Golden Bears.
Carr and Anthony also pull down seven rebounds per game for Mansfield.
Kutztown finishes its regular season schedule with a home game on Saturday February 26 against Millersville University. Mansfield visits Cheyney University. Both games begin at 3 p.m. The Kutztown-Millersville game will be broadcast live on KUTV, which is Service Electric Channel 24 and Hometown Utilicom Channel 28 in Kutztown and eastern Berks County.
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