KUTZTOWN, Pa. – It's playoff time for the Kutztown University men's basketball team. It finished as the third seed in the Eastern Division and hosts fifth-seeded Shippensburg University at Keystone Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28 in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) First Round contest. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.
 
Ticket prices for the first round/quarterfinals are $7 for adults and $2 for students. PSAC students are admitted free with a valid ID from a PSAC institution.
 
Competing in the postseason has been nearly an every-year occurrence for 15-year head coach Bernie Driscoll and his staff. It is the 12th time in the last 13 years Kutztown has qualified for the PSAC Tournament. KU was a game within winning its fifth PSAC East title in program history this season, but has set its sights on winning its first-ever PSAC Championship.
 
Notably, Kutztown looks for its first playoff victory since its run to the PSAC Championship game in 2010.
 
The Golden Bears (17-11, 14-8 PSAC East) exceeded outside expectations this year. After being picked fifth in the PSAC Preseason Poll, Kutztown competed for the East title in its regular season finale and finished tied for second in the division. KU fell to the third seed after losing the tiebreaker with West Chester (2-0 this year vs. KU), and has No. 5 Shippensburg (13-13, 9-13) in its sights.
 
Kutztown won both meetings over Shippensburg this year by double-digits, and holds a four-game winning streak over the Raiders with sweeps in the last two seasons. This is the first time KU and Shippensburg have met in the playoffs, as Shippensburg makes its second postseason appearance in the last three years following a five-year draught dating back to the 2008 season.
 
KU scored the most points Shippensburg allowed all season in an 88-75 win at Keystone Arena on Jan. 14. It was one of KU's most effective games of the season as it shot 49.2 percent from the field, held a 21/7 assist/turnover ratio, and knocked down eight three-pointers, its second-most of the season.
 
The defense shined in the second meeting at Heiges Field House. Kutztown held Shippensburg to 51 points, Ship's second-lowest scoring output of the year, in a 67-51 KU win.
 
Both teams get a large majority of their points in the paint. KU has used its high-percentage shots to lead the PSAC East (second in PSAC) in field goal percentage at 47.6 percent, followed shortly by Shippensburg in third at 45.7. Both teams share the ball well to get the ball down on the low block, as KU ranks second in the PSAC at 16.43 assists per game with Shippensburg at fourth in the PSAC at 15.04 per game.
 
Kutztown has had a number of players step up this season in big games down the stretch. Senior Tynell Fortune is the team's leading scorer at 16.1 per game (sixth in PSAC) and is coming off a career-high 33-point night at East Stroudsburg on Wednesday. He averages more than five free throws per game, is second in the PSAC at 88.1 percent from the charity stripe (fourth in KU single-season history), and is tied for fourth in KU single-season history with 155 made free throws. In 111 career games, 83 of which he played at California (PA), he has 1,274 points.
 
Since Eastern Division games started for the second time of the season on Jan. 10, sophomore Josh Johnson is averaging nearly 18 points per game. He has six 20-point games this season, has scored in double figures in the last six games entering the playoffs, and averages 14.8 points per clip.
 
Johnson is Kutztown's best rebounder at 7.2 per game, averaged a double-double with 10 rebounds per game in the two games against Shippensburg this year, and will go up against the PSAC's leading rebounder, Shippensburg senior Dylan Edgar at 9.5 per game. Edgar also averages 15.8 points per game, as KU big men Anthony Selby and Jeanlee Baez will be called upon to guard the Ship center.
 
Senior Tyler Brooks is averaging 9.1 points per game and is among KU's leaders in nearly every category. He averages 5.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and is a nominee for the PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Year with his 1.8 blocks and 1.6 steals per game.
 
Sophomore guard Austin Beidelman scored a season-high 18 points at Shippensburg this year and will be counted on at both ends of the floor against Shippensburg's young guards.
 
Shippensburg's Justin McCarthur is one of the favorites for the PSAC East Freshman of the Year award. He is averaging 12.5 points per game, has started all 26 games for the Raiders, and is an 83.2 percent free throw shooter. He and Jay Hardy have drained a team-high 51 three-pointers, as sophomore point guard Abe Massaley is fifth in the PSAC at 4.4 assist per game.
 
The 2015 PSAC men's basketball tournament features the top six teams in each of the two divisions, with the top two teams on each side earning a first-round bye. The first round features the three seeds hosting the six seeds from the same division (Shippensburg at KU in the East and Pitt-Johnstown at Indiana (PA) in the West) and the four seeds hosting the five seeds (Lock Haven at Millersville in the East and Edinboro at Slippery Rock in the West).
 
The winner of the KU-SHIP game will travel to West Chester University on Tuesday, March 3 for a PSAC quarterfinal game. Game time would be 7:30 p.m.