KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team shot 54.8% (17-for-31) from the floor in the second half as it turned a four-point deficit midway through the half into a double-digit victory, defeating Bloomsburg University 86-68 Wednesday night at Keystone Arena in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action.
The Golden Bears (9-18, 6-15) won their second straight game and second in-a-row at home in their final game at Keystone Arena this season.
KU was trailing 57-53 after a 3-pointer by Peyton Mortellite of the Huskies (5-21, 4-18) with 12:18 remaining. But the Maroon and Gold scored the game's next nine points to take a 62-57 lead with 9:17 to play. Bloomsburg had a dunk by Justin Anderson to cut its deficit to three, but it would not get any closer the rest of the way as the Maroon and Gold outscored them 24-9 over the last 8:15.
Kutztown shot 42.4% (14-of-33) in the first half and led 41-33 at halftime. Neither team made a shot from beyond the arc in the opening half, combining to go 0-for-10, but they began to heat up from distance in the second half as Bloomsburg connected on four and KU made three.
Four Golden Bears finished the game scoring in double figures, led by a game-high 19 points by
Michael Smith III (Chester, Pa./Chester), who also dished out a career-high nine assists.
Robert Tucker (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) tied a career-high with 18 points in just 15 minutes of action. Both
Wesley Butler (Reading, Pa./Reading) and
Jalen Bryant (Edgewood, Md./John Carroll) recorded 12 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Channick Nkoma (Libreville, Gabon/Lycee National Leon M'ba) tallied eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Kyree Generett (York, Pa./William Penn) and
Akeem Taylor Jr. (Chester, Pa./Chester), each contributed six points for KU.
Kutztown plays at Shippensburg this Saturday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m., in the season finale for the Golden Bears.
