Video Replay – 2nd Half/OT (KUTV)
 
Sunday Coverage Links: Live Stats | Live Video (KUTV)
 
INDIANA, Pa. – The fifth-ranked Kutztown University men's basketball team forced overtime with a 10-1 run over the last 1:47 of regulation against Gannon University on Saturday. The run was capped at 14-1 as KU went on to win its school-record-tying 18th straight game with a 91-85 semifinal victory over Gannon at Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Final Four host Indiana University (PA), advancing KU to the PSAC Championship game on Sunday.
 
The Golden Bears (26-2) will play in their fifth PSAC title game and first since 2010. They will face the winner of Indiana (PA) and Shippensburg on Sunday, March 5 at 3 p.m. The game will air live on KUTV here (video link).
 
KU's 26 wins are second-most in program history, two shy of tying the school record of 28 from 2009. KU will attempt to win its first PSAC title in program-history.
 
Kutztown trailed by nine (76-67) with 1:58 to play. Ethan Ridgeway (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) started the run with a layup, as 3's by Anthony Lee (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington) and Ryan Connolly (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) in transition pulled KU within two (77-75) with 1:08 to play.
 
Kutztown's defense stepped up when it needed, forcing a missed shot and a steal to give itself a chance to tie the game with 32 seconds to play. Ridgeway dished out his ninth assist of the night with 0:24 to play, finding Lee for a layup to tie the game at 77-77 (video). KU forced another turnover with two seconds to play in regulation to send the game to overtime on a 10-1 run.
 
KU scored the first four points of overtime to cap its game-saving, and eventual game-winning run at 14-1 for an 81-77 lead. Kutztown never surrendered its lead in overtime.
 
Notably, KU shot 24-for-28 from the free throw line Saturday, including 15-of-16 in the second half and overtime. It rallied in shooting percentage by an increase of 14 from the first to second half, shooting 53.6 percent in the second half and making 4-of-5 shots in overtime.
 
Gannon is the top rebounding team in the PSAC West, and KU fought to win the battle of the boards, 42-36.
 
Ridgeway played a significant role as the catalyst of the late comeback. In the final 10 minutes (5:00 of regulation and 5:00 of overtime), he shot 6-for-6 from the field and dished out three assists. He flirted with a triple-double with 21 points off a career-high 10-for-15 shooting, nine assists and a career-high-tying nine rebounds. He added four steals defensively in 42 minutes.
 
The nine assists give Ridgeway 252 this year, sixth-most in PSAC history.
 
Lee scored 24 points, including five in the 10-1 run at the end of regulation. He shot 6-of-9 from the field, 3-of-5 from downtown and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. He played a team-high 43 minutes.
 
Kutztown had to overcome foul trouble for its leading scorer in Josh Johnson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown). Johnson picked up his fourth foul with 16:51 to play and went to the bench for more than nine minutes. Senior Martin Dietrich (Maytown, Pa./Donegal), the PSAC's Champion Scholar award winner, stepped up with 10 solid minutes off the bench and three rebounds. Freshman Max Wagner (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) added 11 minutes inside and added an And-1 layup to the cause.
 
Johnson re-entered the game with 7:26 to play and avoided fouling out the remainder of the game. His six points and eight rebounds move him into third all-time at KU in scoring (1,683) and second in rebounding (870).
 
Connolly's 3-point shooting was tested, but the redshirt-senior prevailed. He made 4 triples - tying the single-season school-record with 72 this season – for 20 points. He grabbed seven rebounds and made all six of his free throws.
 
Dan Cuevas (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) added 15 points and six rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting.
 
Senior point guard Austin Beidelman (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) had two assists to move him into fifth in KU history with 356.
 
Kutztown was forced to play the majority of the first half at Gannon's preferred half-court tempo. It wasn't until late in the half when KU was able to build off Gannon misses and get out in transition. KU used a quick 8-0 late in the half, capped with a Connolly 3-pointer in transition to give KU a 29-27 lead, its first since 3-0, with less than 4:00 to play in the half.
 
Gannon answered with its fifth and sixth 3-pointers of the half to regain the lead. Lee's fast-break 3-pointer with two seconds left on the half cut the deficit as KU trailed 35-34 at halftime.
 
For the game, Gannon made 10 3-pointers at a 45.5 percent clip. Zay Jackson scored a team-high 28 points with 7 3-pointers. Matthew Dogan scored 18 and Evan Phoenix added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.