KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Senior guard Kyree Generett (York, Pa./William Penn) gave his Kutztown University men's basketball just the shot in the arm it needed as his fast break layup dropped through the net just as time expired to give KU a thrilling, 94-92 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division victory over West Chester Monday afternoon inside Keystone Arena.
 
The Golden Bears (5-9 overall, 2-6 PSAC) had lost five straight games entering the contest and were looking for some positive momentum at the midway point in the 2021-22 season. It came in dramatic fashion Monday.
 
With the score tied at 92-92 and 0:24 left on the clock, Cam Polak of the Golden Rams (8-4, 3-4) missed a potential go-ahead layup as the clock was winding down under 0:10. Channick Nkoma (Libreville, Gabon/Lycee National Leon M'ba) grabbed the rebound, passed it up court to Evan-Eric Longino (Furlong, Pa./Germantown Academy) who took three dribbles racing down court and found Generett, who was running with him, on the right block. Generett got up his shot just before the buzzer sounded and Kutztown celebrated its first victory since Dec. 8.
 
The shot capped a career-high day for Generett, who finished with 20 points, the most in a game for the York native. He added three rebounds and two steals. Michael Smith III (Chester, Pa./Chester) also tallied 20 points and three rebounds. He has had the hot hand of late, scoring 17 and 20 in his last two games. Jalen Bryant (Edgewood, Md./John Carroll) recorded 19 points and Nkoma added 15 as four Golden Bears reached double-figures in scoring. Longino just missed the mark, finishing with nine.
 
For the first 20 minutes of the contest it looked as if the result would go in favor of West Chester. The Golden Rams, who went 21-for-40 from the floor, and 6-for-13 from beyond the arc, took a 55-41 lead to halftime. KU found itself trailing by as many as 16 points (67-51) with 15:30 left in the game, but slowly chipped away.
 
Kutztown was behind 84-73 with 5:43 remaining, but used the next 4:15 to climb all the way back after two free-throws by Generett. Bryant connected on two free-throws to give the Maroon and Gold a 92-90 advantage before Kyle McGee tied the game back up with 1:11 to go and set up the dramatic last minute of play.
 
Robert Tucker (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) had four points for KU, Ky'Aire Sumpter (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) totaled three and both Akello Mosby (Philadelphia, Pa./Carver) and Oenis Medina (Reading, Pa./Reading) contributed two points.
 
Kutztown is back out on the court on Wednesday night when it travels to Bloomsburg for a 5:30 p.m., tip.