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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Senior guard Tynell Fortune (Blakeslee, Pa./Pocono Mountain West (California (PA))) notched the 1,000th point of his collegiate career on Saturday, as the Kutztown University men's basketball team had its seven-game winning streak snapped by Slippery Rock University in a 73-69 setback at Keystone Arena.
 
Fortune has experienced great success in his first year with the Golden Bears. He joined the Maroon and Gold after a three-year career at California University (PA), where he led the Vulcans in scoring last year and scored 823 points in his three years. This year, Fortune leads Kutztown at 14.9 points per game and is among the national leaders in free throw percentage at 89.1 percent after making his last 17 free throws.
 
With his team-high 14 points on Saturday, Fortune stands at 1,002 career points in 95 career games, an average of 10.5 per clip.
 
Kutztown (8-4, 5-2 PSAC) entered the day as the co-leader in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division with East Stroudsburg, and now ranks second following an ESU win over Pitt-Johnstown. Saturday presented one of KU's toughest matchups of the year, as Slippery Rock came in with a four-game winning streak and a matching one loss in conference play.
 
Following a back-and-forth first half in which The Rock led by four at halftime (36-32), the teams combined to make eight of the first nine field goal attempts of the second half. Unfortunately for the Golden Bears, Slippery Rock held the upper hand at 5-of-6 while forcing three KU turnovers to take its first double-digit lead of the game at 50-40 less than four minutes into the second half.
 
Trailing by 11 with 8:20 to play, Kutztown used its reserves to put itself back in striking distance. Martin Dietrich (Maytown, Pa./Donegal) dialed up a three-pointer and one of two free throws, Rell Sherman (Philadelphia, Pa./Olney West (Manor Junior College)) hit a triple off an assist from Ethan Ridgeway (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin), and Howard Sellars (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area (Saint Peter's)) nailed a jumper in less than a two-minute span to cap KU's 9-2 run to trail Slippery Rock 62-58 with 6:18 to play.
 
Down four in the final minutes, Fortune hit a pair of free throws to bring Kutztown within two at 67-65 with 2:44 to play, marking the closest KU was within SRU since the opening bucket of the second half.
 
Neither team made a field goal in the final three minutes, but Slippery Rock made all six of its free throws down the stretch to secure the win. One of Kutztown's best chances to turn the tide was with 30 seconds left and trailing by three. Slippery Rock ran the shot clock down, missed a three-pointer that scattered toward the corner, where players from both teams fought for possession. The ball went out of bounds and possession was ruled to Slippery Rock, which forced KU to intentionally foul and extend the deficit to two possessions.
 
Fortune was 6-for-6 at the charity stripe with two three-pointers in the setback for 14 points. He also grabbed a team-high and season-high-tying six rebounds for his first time leading the team in rebounding this season.
 
Senior Tyler Brooks (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) also grabbed a team-high six rebounds, and scored in double figures for the fourth straight game. He scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting with three assists and two blocks. Brooks, who entered the day as the PSAC's leading shot-blocker, has notched 10 blocks over his last three games.
 
Josh Johnson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) battled foul trouble in the first half and finished with 12 points in 21 minutes. He had two blocks and finished with four rebounds.
 
Notably, Kutztown held a positive assist/turnover margin for the seventh consecutive game with 15 assists and nine turnovers on Saturday.
 
Slippery Rock's starting lineup accounted for 69 of the team's 73 points on Saturday. SRU (9-2, 5-1) had two double-digit rebounders, which led it to a 43-31 advantage on the boards. Cornelius Brown had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and shot 7-for-11 from the field. Jamal Gatali grabbed 10 rebounds with five points and four assists in 34 minutes.
 
Frank Holloway scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the first half, and appeared to be limited in the second half due to a possible injury. He shot an effective 8-for-11 from the field. Kelvin Goodwin made all six of his free throws and made three three-pointers for The Rock, with 12 of his 15 points coming in the second half. He also handed out a game-high nine assists.
 
The Golden Bears return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. in Philadelphia against the University of the Sciences.