KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team was in a deadlock with 1:29 left to play and then within one possession with under a minute to go, but just could not overtake West Chester to find a late-game lead, as KU fell 85-82 Wednesday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Division game at Keystone Arena.
 
The Golden Bears (10-15 overall, 8-11 PSAC) were looking for their first regular season sweep over the Golden Rams (17-8, 11-8) since the 2016-17 season, but were unable to accomplish the feat. KU took down West Chester on its home floor, 92-78, back on Jan. 18, when the Golden Rams were ranked 12th in the country.
 
Five Golden Bears reached double-figures in scoring, including a new season-high of 15 for freshman Michael Smith III (Chester, Pa./Chester), who also contributed four rebounds and two assists. Classmate Wesley Butler (Reading, Pa./Reading) tallied a team-high 18 points, Ryan 'Boz' Bernstein (Bronx, N.Y./Marianapolis Prep) recorded 16 points and six assists, Kyree Generett (York, Pa./William Penn) had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Sean Griffin (Abington, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian Academy) chipped in 10 points, five rebounds and two assists.
 
Trailing 79-74 with 2:38 left to play, the Maroon and Gold showed their grit and toughness, playing without starters Tarojae Brake (Coatesville, Pa./Octorara) and Josh Townsend (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter), and for a better part of the second half, Facundo Arens (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Bahia Blanca), another starter. KU scored five straight on two Bernstein free-throws and a Butler shot from long range to tie the score at 79-79 and 1:29 on the clock.
 
West Chester connected on its next possession to take back the lead 81-79 with 0:55 to go. But back-to-back turnovers put KU into a two-possession hole, trailing 85-81 with just 0:04 left. Butler was fouled and was at the charity stripe for two shots. He hit the first and then purposefully missed the second. The ball was nicely tipped out towards the arc by Akello Mosby (Philadelphia, Pa./Carver) and found the waiting hands of Smith. But the freshman could not get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.
 
Mosby, Arens and Dylan Elliott (Sicklerville, N.J./Timber Creek) all finished with three points. Arens added three points and three rebounds while Mosby grabbed four boards.
 
The contest was close throughout, as the biggest lead for either team was 10 points (KU led 28-18 and 31-21 midway through the opening half). Kutztown opened the game on fire, scoring the first eight points, including a three-pointer by Butler and Generett and a layup by Griffin. The Golden Rams began to show life and slowly chip away at their deficit. They took their first lead of the game on the final basket of the first half, heading into the locker rooms at halftime leading KU 39-38.
 
Kutztown will travel to take on Mansfield on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m.