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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The No. 11 Kutztown University men's basketball team tied its most points in a single game this season as it defeated West Chester University, 110-85, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) battle inside of Keystone Arena Wednesday evening.
With the win, the Golden Bears (12-2 PSAC, 16-2) improve their winning streak to eight games. This is the first time the Maroon and Gold have held an eight-game winning streak since winning 10 games in a row from December 2011 through February 2012.
After a sloppy start to the game from both squads, KU picked up its rhythm and jumped out to a 23-9 lead with 11:15 left in the first half. The Golden Bears continued to pour on the pressure and went into the locker room with a comfortable 55-31 lead.
The second half would prove to be a similar story as Kutztown pushed its lead to as high as 37 - 96-59 with 6:53 remaining. The Golden Bears were deadly from beyond the arc, notching 10 three-pointers on 20 attempts.
Kutztown was led by reigning PSAC East Athlete of the Week
Anthony Lee (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington), who scored a career-high 29 points – his fifth 20+ point performance in nine games - to go along with six rebounds and two steals. Lee continued his strong season from deep, hitting a career-best five three-pointers on seven attempts to improve his three-point percentage to a staggering 59.2 percent.
Josh Johnson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) turned in another impressive night, as he netted 21 points and six rebounds. With the performance, Johnson surpassed 1,500 points for his career to become only the fifth Golden Bear in program history to reach this feat.
Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) also made his way up the record book as he nailed four 3-pointers to became just the second player in program history with 200 for his career. He finished the contest with 14 points and absolutely stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds, career-highs of four blocks and four steals, and three assists.
Ethan Ridgeway (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) finished with six points, four rebounds, and nine assists. With the nine assists, the junior now has the third most assists in a single-season in KU history with 149. He needs 22 more the remainder of the season to break the school record of 170 currently held by Maurice Bryant.
Ridgeway also moved into fifth for career assists, passing Rodney Shorter on the leaderboard with 352 for his career.
Dan Cuevas (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) put up an impressive line of 17 points, five rebounds and a career-high four assists.
Austin Beidelman (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) provided solid minutes off the bench, scoring eight points and dishing out a season-best eight assists.
The Maroon and Gold shot an astounding 61.9% (39-of-63) from the field to go along with their 50% from deep. The Golden Bears also held the advantage in points in the paint, besting West Chester 54-40.
The Golden Rams were paced by Malik Jackson, who turned in 24 points. Jackson Hyland was second on the team in scoring with 13 points.
The Golden Bears will look to extend their win streak to nine games on the road in a top-11 showdown with unbeaten and No. 3 Shippensburg on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m.