WILMINGTON, Del. – Moe Williams (Townsend, Del./Life Center Academy (N.J.)) and Evan-Eric Longino (Furlong, Pa./Germantown Academy) came up with important defensive plays late that helped the Kutztown University men's basketball team take the lead and hold onto it in the end, securing a road win at Goldey-Beacom, 78-74, in a non-conference game Sunday afternoon.
 
It was the second straight victory for the Golden Bears (2-3 overall), who played their first regular season game away from Keystone Arena.
 
With the score tied 72-72 with just under one minute to play, Williams grabbed a defensive rebound and was then fouled, connecting on both free-throws to give his team a two-point lead. On the ensuing Lightning (2-4) possession, Longino forced a turnover and created a steal, which led to two made free-throws by leading scorer, Wesley Butler (Reading, Pa./Reading), on the other end, to secure the triumph.
 
Williams finished with a double-double, and was four assists shy of a triple-double, five blocks short of a quadruple-double. Playing in his home state of Delaware, Williams stuffed the stat sheet, tallying 13 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and a career-high five blocks in 34 minutes of action. Butler netted a game and season-high of 29 points, going 10-for-17 from the floor, 5-for-10 from long distance and 4-of-4 at the charity stripe.
 
Kutztown led for all but 1:36 of the first half and held as big of a lead as 13 (24-11) after Akeem Taylor Jr. (Chester, Pa./Chester) at the 8:33 mark of the opening half. KU was up 38-34 at halftime. Goldey-Beacom scored the opening five points after the intermission to grab the advantage just 2:07 into the second half, but a 3-pointer by Butler and layups from Channick Nkoma (Libreville, Gabon/Lycee National Leon M'ba) and Akello Mosby (Philadelphia, Pa./Carver) highlighted a 7-0 spurt by the Maroon and Gold to take back the lead, 45-39 at the 16:19 mark.
 
Michael Smith III (Chester, Pa./Chester) tied a career-high with 15 points. Nkoma had eight points and four rebounds. Jalen Bryant (Edgewood, Md./John Carroll) and Taylor Jr. both finished with four points. Kyree Generett (York, Pa./William Penn) contributed three points and Mosby had two to round out the KU scoring.
 
Kutztown begins its portion of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference competition with two games in two nights next weekend, both at Keystone Arena. KU hosts nationally-ranked IUP on Friday, Dec. 3, and then Seton Hill the following Saturday. Both tip-offs are set for 7:30 p.m.