KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team never led and fell by double digits to Millersville University, 74-59, Monday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division game at Keystone Arena.
 
With five days off following a bye last weekend, the Golden Bears (7-12 overall, 4-9 PSAC) may have experienced a little bit of rust as a slow start proved too much to overcome against the Marauders (17-4, 11-4), who sit in second place in the PSAC East, a half game behind first place Shippensburg (14-5, 11-3), who KU defeated last Monday, Jan. 24, at Keystone.
 
The Maroon and Gold had won their last two games on back-to-back Mondays, but could not make it three in-a-row as Millersville scored the game's first seven points and nine of 11 overall in jumping to a lead that it never relinquished. The Marauders extended their lead to double figures at 15-4 at the 7:20 mark of the first half and KU never got closer than eight the rest of the way. Millersville ended the half on a 14-0 run the last 5:33 when Kutztown trailed just 29-21 as KU went 0-for-6 and had four turnovers in that time frame that hurt it offensively.
 
The closest Kutztown cut its deficit to was 17 in the second half, until the final buzzer when Michael Smith III (Chester, Pa./Chester) drained a three-pointer. Smith III finished with 11 points and four rebounds and Akeem Taylor Jr. (Chester, Pa./Chester) also scored in double figures, leading the team with 15 points and adding six rebounds and four steals.
 
Robert Tucker (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) tallied eight points, four rebounds and two blocks and both Wesley Butler (Reading, Pa./Reading) and Jalen Bryant (Edgewood, Md./John Carroll) added six points for KU. Evan-Eric Longino (Furlong, Pa./Germantown Academy) contributed five points.
 
Kutztown hosts East Stroudsburg on Wednesday night, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m., from Keystone Arena.