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EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team came within a bucket of erasing an 18-point second half deficit in the final moments, but was not able to knock off East Stroudsburg University on its home floor on Wednesday night in an 81-75 loss with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division title on the line at Koehler Fieldhouse.
 
The Golden Bears (17-11, 14-8 PSAC East) take over the third seed in the PSAC Tournament and will host sixth-seeded Shippensburg University on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. at Keystone Arena. Tickets are $7 for adults and $2 students. All PSAC students are admitted for free with a valid student ID.
 
Senior Tynell Fortune turned in his best game of the season, was Kutztown's top offensive option all night, and nearly brought the Golden Bears back himself. He made five three-pointers and posted a perfect 12-for-12 performance at the free throw line on his way to a season-high 33 points.
 
Fortune is one of four Golden Bears in program history to shoot 12-for-12 at the free throw line in a game, and the first since Nate Edwards in 2012.
 
East Stroudsburg (18-9, 16-6), the outright winners of the PSAC East for the third straight season, drained eight three-pointers and shot 58.1 percent from the field in the first half on its way to a 49-33 lead. It continued to apply pressure in the second half and took advantage of KU foul trouble inside to hold a 67-49 lead with 9:09 to play.
 
By this point, ESU was in the double bonus and KU was shooting 1-and-1. Both teams began attacking the basket at will, as the foul calls on both ends told the tale of 64 combined free throws on Wednesday night.
 
Kutztown forced four turnovers in the next three minutes to spark a 9-0 run, cutting ESU's lead to nine at 67-58 with 6:05 to play. ESU survived the run and pushed its lead back to double-digits, but a technical foul call on ESU in front of its bench completely shifted the momentum back to Kutztown.
 
Fortune stood by his lonesome at the free throw line in front of a rowdy crowd at Kohler Fieldhouse and knocked down both free throws to put KU down nine. KU scored on its next four possessions and ESU shot 1-for-4 at the free throw line, as a layup by Fortune with 1:47 to play put Kutztown down 72-69, the closest it had been since midway through the first half.
 
Kutztown made yet another stop on ESU's ensuing possession, which would be followed by one of the most significant plays of the game. KU got out in transition after the miss and failed on an alley-oop attempt that turned into two ESU free throws on the other end. A potential one-point game became five and later eight with 29 seconds to go.
 
Despite the slim ray of hope KU had with less than 30 seconds to play, Fortune once again stepped up and drained his fifth three of the night with 20 seconds to play. ESU split free throws with 19 seconds to go, and a Rell Sherman three from the top of the key once again put KU down three with 11 seconds to go. ESU, however, made three of its final four free throws to keep the game at multiple possessions, not allowing the Golden Bears to overcome the once-large margin.
 
Josh Johnson notched a double-double in the setback with 16 points and 11 rebounds. He and Fortune were Kutztown's lone double-digit scorers as the bench started to get shorter-and-shorter as the game went on.
 
Kutztown held East Stroudsburg to just six field goals in the second half, but 19 free throws in the second half aided ESU in holding off KU's late run. Jamal Nwaniemeka had a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Whis Grant scored 19 points, fellow senior Lamont Tiller finished with 11 points, and sophomore Rasheed Moore grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and scored just six points, factoring in that he had 25 points and 12 rebounds in the team's first meeting on Jan. 25 at Keystone Arena.
 
The Golden Bears look ahead to their playoff matchup with Shippensburg on Saturday. KU won both meetings this season by double-digits, as the winner will move on to the quarterfinals at West Chester University on Tuesday, March 3.