SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Looking for a regular season sweep of Shippensburg, the Kutztown University men's basketball team fell behind by double figures in the first half and could not make its way back, dropping the season finale at Shippensburg 79-59 Saturday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division matchup at Heiges Fieldhouse.
The Golden Bears had their two-game win streak snapped and finished the season at 9-19 overall and 6-16 in the PSAC.
The Raiders (19-8, 16-6) defense stifled Kutztown's offense, forcing them into shooting 39.7% (23-for-58) from the floor and just 18.2% (2-of-11) from 3-point range. KU tied a season-low with 59 points.
Wesley Butler (Reading, Pa./Reading) scored a team-high 12 points. Junior centers
Channick Nkoma (Libreville, Gabon/Lycee National Leon M'ba) and
Robert Tucker (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) both finished with 10 points, with the former recording a double-double, adding 10 rebounds and the latter finishing just one board shy of a double-double. Tucker also added three blocks.
Butler, Nkoma and
Evan-Eric Longino (Furlong, Pa./Germantown Academy) combined to score eight points as the Maroon and Gold netted eight of the first 12 points of the game and led 8-4, 4:19 into the game. Shippensburg then scored eight in-a-row to take its first lead at 12-8 and never gave it up, leading 39-28 at halftime.
Kutztown never got closer than nine of the rest of the way.
Kyree Generett (York, Pa./William Penn) tallied eight points, Longino recorded six and
Julian Boykins (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) added five.
Michael Smith III (Chester, Pa./Chester) and
Akeem Taylor Jr. (Chester, Pa./Chester) contributed three and
Ky'Aire Sumpter (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) rounded out the scoring with two points.
Sumpter,
Moe Williams (Townsend, Del./Life Center Academy (N.J.)) and
Oenis Medina (Reading, Pa./Reading) were honored on senior day for KU. Kutztown is expected to have a majority of its roster back, including all five starters from the last-half of the season.
