KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team opened its season with a decisive 110-71 victory over Penn State Schuylkill inside of Keystone Arena on Saturday afternoon.
KU opened the game up with a 16-8 lead in the first 4:56 of the contest. Penn State battled back to cut the deficit to five and bring the score to 23-18, but in the final 9:50 of the half the Maroon and Gold began to pull away and would enter the locker room with a 50-25 advantage.
The second half would prove to be more competitive, but Kutztown still held a sizeable advantage in most categories and would outscore Penn State 60-46.
The 110 points for Kutztown was its most since scoring 115 on Dec. 12 of last year. The Golden Bears shot 48.8 percent (40-82) from the field and 44.0 percent (11-25) from beyond the arch. The 11- 3-pointers were KU's most in a game since making 12 at Edinboro on Jan. 6, 2012.
Kutztown also grabbed 50+ rebounds for the first time since Feb. 28, 2012 as
Anthony Lee (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington) registered a career-high 12 to go along with 17 points for his third career double-double.
Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) also had 17 points and nailed a game-high 4-6 from 3-point range.
Josh Johnson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) led four Golden Bears in double figures with 19 points and added the second-most rebounds on the team with seven. Senior
Austin Beidelman (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) chipped in with 13 points.
Ethan Ridgeway (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) flirted with a triple-double, finishing the game with nine points, nine assists and six rebounds as he fell one point shy of giving KU 10+ points from all five starters.
Demetrius Bennett (Conshohocken, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh (Neumann)) led Kutztown's bench with eight points on 4-5 shooting and
Christian Kelly (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville Area) added seven.
The Penn State Schuykill offense was paced by Kody Jacoby, who notched game-highs in points (26) and rebounds (16). He also finished with four assists.
The Maroon and Gold will hit the road Wednesday, Nov. 16 to take on the University of Sciences. Tip-off is set to occur at 7 p.m.
