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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team hosts the Bloomsburg University Huskies on Jan. 25 in a Saturday afternoon Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division battle at Keystone Arena. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.
 
With a win for the Golden Bears (5-12, 3-4 PSAC East), they will earn their first winning streak of the season while finishing the first half of the divisional schedule with a .500 record. Kutztown got into this position after winning at Shippensburg, 62-58, on Wednesday night. KU shot 17-of-32 (53.1 percent) in the second half for the win. Meanwhile, the Huskies (10-6, 6-1) have only lost to East Stroudsburg so far in the PSAC East. They most recently won 86-70 against Mansfield.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Kutztown and Shippensburg led by no more than six points in the entirety of the game, following a similar pattern to KU's game against Lock Haven last Saturday. However, KU finished strong down the stretch this time, defeating Shippensburg, 62-58. Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) hit the go-ahead three with 1:06 left. This came after Rell Sherman (Philadelphia, Pa./Olney West (Manor Junior College)) scored eight points in 2:23 to tie the Golden Bears four times. With the lead, KU salted the game away with three free throws.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Wednesday's outcome marks the fifth consecutive game decided by six points or fewer. The Golden Bears hold a 2-3 record in those games. In each game, the score was within one possession at some point in the final minute. Golden Bears trailed at the half in both victories, but shot over 50 percent each time in the second stanza to eek out the victory. Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) hit free throws to seal the win against Cheyney, while Austin Beidelman (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) hit one to beat Ship.
 
DOUBLE J, DOUBLE DIGITS: Freshman forward Josh Johnson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) scored eight points against Shippensburg. He fell short of double digits, but Johnson still has scored at least eight points in every game he finished. Johnson owned a double-digit scoring streak of nine games to start the season, marking the longest streak by a KU freshman to start his career since Butch Hills, a Kutztown Athletics Hall of Famer, did so in his first 10 games in the 1985-86 season. Johnson averages 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this season.
 
THE PEAL DEAL: Sophomore forward Tracy Peal leads the team with 15.6 points per game. Peal leads the team with 214 field-goal attempts and 105 free-throw attempts, but his best production came as of late. Peal surpassed the 20-point total three times in his last six games, and he has six such scoring games for the season. Furthermore, he is shooting 32-of-41 (78.0 percent) from the free-throw line in those six games.
 
LINE OF BAD LUCK: Like any defense, the Golden Bears cannot affect an opponent's free throw percentage. Unfortunately, opponents haven't given KU any mercy from the charity stripe this season. Kutztown's 74.9 opponent free throw percentage trails only IUP's 76.0 opponent percent clip in the PSAC. Meanwhile, the team offensively ranks 17th in the conference by shooting 65.7 percent from the charity stripe, ahead of only Mansfield's 65.3 percent shooting.
 
NEED THE THREE: The Golden Bears are also looking for a boost shooting from beyond the arc, shooting a PSAC-worst 25.8 percent for the season from three-point range. So far this season, sophomore guard/forward Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) converted 26 of the team's 50 three-point field goals. Redshirt freshman guard Elijah Jackson (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) ranked seconds on the team with six, doing so while 25.0 percent from three.
 
Looking in the Other Corner: the Bloomsburg Huskies
 
HUSKY TURNAROUND: Last year, Bloomsburg owned just an 8-19 record. The Huskies needed overtime for five of those wins, including one against Kutztown. The three regulation wins included one by a point and one by two points. This year, the Huskies already surpassed the previous win total, earning only one overtime win and two one-possession wins.
 
CHRISTMAS ALL YEAR: Redshirt senior guard Lorenzo Christmas will likely be the key offensive threat. He ranks second on the team with 13.3 points per game and does so on 38.2 percent shooting. Christmas also gets the job done from deep, shooting 39.0 percent from three-point range. He has seven games with at least 15 points scored this season.
 
HEY THERE, COACH: Huskies head coach John Sanow is in his eighth season with the program, owning a 85-119 record in that time. Sanow gave the Huskies a share of the PSAC East crown two years ago and led the team to a 19-9 record overall. His assistant coaching experience includes stops at Division I schools like Vermont and St. Francis, Pa.