JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- Kutztown erased a double-digit deficit to draw even late in the first half, but Pitt-Johnstown outscored the Golden Bears 23-9 over the opening 8:11 of the second to take control in an 88-77 PSAC crossover victory Wednesday night.
The Bears came out on fire in last Friday's win over Cal, but the opposite was true against the Mountain Cats as they missed 18 of their first 20 shots. Despite the tough shooting start, KU trailed by just eight at the 10:37 mark by virtue of going 6-of-6 at the foul line.
Eventually shots started to go down for
Bernie Driscoll's club. After trailing the entire first half, a
Wesley Butler (Reading, Pa./Reading) three knotted the game at 31 with 2:55 left before the break.
Kyree Generett (York, Pa./William Penn) accounted for Kutztown's (4-7, 4-2 PSAC) final four points of the half. Though KU never went in front, they trailed by only a pair, 37-35, at halftime.
Generett scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the first half and Butler added nine.
Pitt-Johnstown (9-3, 5-1 PSAC) shot 57.1% in the first half and only got better as the game wore on. The Mountain Cats increased their lead to as many as 16 by converting on 17-of-27 shots (63.0%) in the second.
Kutztown trailed 60-44 with 11:28 to play but closed to within nine on a pair of
Jalen Bryant (Edgewood, Md./John Carroll) free throws by the under eight-minute media stoppage. UPJ went in front by double figures for good on a Caiden Landis layup that made it 68-57 with 5:56 remaining.
Generett finished with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting and was a perfect 8-of-8 at the charity stripe. Bryant made 12-of-14 free throws on his way to 21 points and Butler totaled 11.
Pitt-Johnstown was able to make life difficult for the Golden Bear bigs, however. Center
Robert Tucker (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson), who came in averaging a double-double with 16.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, was held to six points and three boards, both season lows.
Jordan Harding (Bear, Del./William Penn) drew his first start of the season coming off a 12-point effort against Cal, but was kept off the scoresheet in 18 minutes.
The backcourt tandem of Jared Jakubick and Ryan Smith led Pitt-Johnstown with 21 points apiece as all five Mountain Cats finished in double figures. John Paul Kromka followed with 18, Andrew Shull had 12 and Joe Batt 10. UPJ shot 60% on the night, going 33-of-55, and outscored the Maroon and Gold 44-28 in the paint.
Wednesday night's victory was UPJ's third straight at home over KU going back to Dec. 8, 2018. In fact, five of the six meetings between the two since the 2013-14 season have been played in Johnstown, with the Bears only win coming Dec. 3, 2016, by a 96-90 score.
The Golden Bears will now turn their focus to PSAC East play beginning with Saturday's home game against West Chester. Tip is set for 3 p.m.
