KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Junior Wesley Butler (Reading, Pa./Reading) scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, coming up clutch down the stretch to fend off Bowie State, 81-79, to conclude KU's non-conference portion of its schedule Wednesday night at Keystone Arena.
 
The Golden Bears (4-4 overall) evened their record on the season and capped a stretch of seven of their first eight games of the season at home with a victory. KU will play two more games this calendar year, both on the road out west in PSAC play.
 
Akeem Taylor Jr. (Chester, Pa./Chester) netted a season-high 15 points in a season-high 34 minutes, starting in place of Moe Williams (Townsend, Del./Life Center Academy (N.J.)), who was injured in last Saturday's game against Seton Hill. Channick Nkoma (Libreville, Gabon/Lycee National Leon M'ba) recorded his first career double-double, finishing with 10 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Evan-Eric Longino (Furlong, Pa./Germantown Academy) also scored in double-figures, adding 12 points.
 
There were four ties in the first half and Kutztown went into the halftime break leading by 10, 44-34. Following the intermission, Jalen Bryant (Edgewood, Md./John Carroll) made a layup and then connected on a 3-pointer within the first 0:31 to give KU its biggest advantage of the game at 15, 49-34.
 
The Bulldogs (1-7) then went on a run of their own. They fought back to claim a 68-67 lead with 3:50 to go. After the teams traded baskets and Bowie State remained ahead 71-69 with 3:31 left, Butler took over. The Reading native scored six of the game's next seven points overall to give his team the lead back at 76-71 and just 0:38 left on the clock. He wound up scoring 10 of KU's final 12 points in the game's last 2:47.
 
Bryant finished with seven points. Michael Smith III (Chester, Pa./Chester) contributed five points. Ky'Aire Sumpter (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) totaled three points and both Akello Mosby (Philadelphia, Pa./Carver) and Robert Tucker (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) had two points, the latter also grabbing three rebounds.
 
Kutztown will head west for two games next weekend. KU will take on Slippery Rock on Saturday, Dec. 18, and follow that up with a matchup with Edinboro on Sunday. Both games are scheduled for 3 p.m. After a road contest at California (Pa.) the day after New Year's, Kutztown's next home game is set for Wednesday, Jan. 5, at 7:30 p.m., against West Chester.