Audio Replay (KUR)

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The No. 6 Kutztown University men's basketball team closed out its regular season by clinching the outright Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East title with its 16th straight win over West Chester University, 91-85, on Saturday afternoon inside of Hollinger Field House.
 
This is KU's (24-2, 20-2 PSAC) second straight outright PSAC East title and the fourth in program history.
 
The 16-game winning streak marks the second longest in the history of the program, while the 24 wins are the third-most in school history.
 
Kutztown, who receives a bye in the First Round of the PSAC Tournament as the one seed, will host a Quarterfinal against the winner of fourth-seeded Bloomsburg and fifth-seeded West Chester this Wednesday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
 
Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) knocked down seven 3-pointers in the victory, finishing the contest with a team-high 24 points, one shy of his season-high. Not only was the redshirt-senior one 3-pointer shy of the single-game school record, he also became the program's all-time leader in career 3-pointers with 220.
 
Meanwhile, Ethan Ridgeway (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin), who previously broke the school record for single-game assists with 14 just two weeks ago on Feb. 11 at Cheyney, matched his own record with yet another 14-assist performance on Saturday.
 
With the 14 assists, Ridgeway moved into second in program history with 434 for his career. His single-season assist total of 229 is also tied for 11th-most in PSAC history.
 
In a contest that was locked at 10-10 early on in the first half, West Chester kept pace with the nationally ranked Golden Bears. The Golden Rams found themselves ahead 15-10 with 13:29 left in the first half, but Kutztown answered with 13-2 run to take a 23-17 advantage with 10:29 left in the half.
 
West Chester would prove to not go away quietly, however, taking a 45-43 lead heading into the second half.
 
The remainder of the contest proved to be a back-and-forth affair with the each team trading haymakers at one another. It was not until 6:43 remained in the game that Kutztown took a game-high eight-point lead when Conolly capped nine unanswered with a triple to make the score 76-68.
 
West Chester would not go quietly, as Malik Jackson hit a free throw to make it a one-possession game, 86-83, with 1:09 left to play. The Golden Rams had a chance to tie it, but after missing a potential game-tying 3-pointer with just 33 seconds left, Anthony Lee (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington) hit 2-of-2 at the charity stripe to all but seal the victory. Dan Cuevas (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg), Ridgeway and Connolly all hit free throws down the stretch as well.
 
Lee finished the contest with 22 points. 12 of his points came from beyond the arc, while he also hauled in five rebounds and had three steals.
 
Cuevas added 18 points, notching his 19th game this season scoring in double-figures.
 
Along with his record-tying 14 assists, Ridgeway also had 11 points to give him his seventh double-double of the season.
 
Josh Johnson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) rounded out the starters with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Austin Beidelman (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) finished the contest with six assists off the bench to move into sixth in program history with 350 for his career.
 
West Chester found most of its production from Jackson Hyland, who tallied a game-high 34 points to go along with 11 rebounds.