KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Temperatures were frigid outside, but inside Keystone Arena, the Kutztown men's basketball team shot a sweltering 63% in the first half of Wednesday night's PSAC East game against West Chester. Though the Golden Bears took a one-point lead to the break, the Golden Rams countered with six three-pointers over the final 20 minutes to escape with an 87-76 victory.
 
The visiting Golden Rams raced out to a 9-0 lead 3:09 in and had their first double-digit lead of the night on Elijah Allen's layup with 14:00 minutes remaining that made it 16-6.
 
Kutztown (2-14, 1-9 PSAC) stuck to its game plan and slowly chipped away at the deficit over the middle stages of the half. Freshman Yahmir Satterfield (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) evened the game at 41 with 1:10 left before halftime and drained another on the Bears' next possession to give his team its first lead, 44-43.
 
On the Maroon and Gold's final possession of the half, fellow first-year player Juju Pagan (Tobyhanna, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) nailed a pull up jumper to give Kutztown a 46-45 advantage at the horn. Satterfield was 7-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-6 from deep, to lead all players with 19 points at the break. Amir Cunningham (Middletown, Del./Middletown) added six points and six rebounds, and Pagan five points for KU.
 
Brent Ricketts Jr. (Seaford, Del./Seaford) briefly stretched Kutztown's lead to three, 48-45, by scoring the first basket of the second half, but West Chester (10-6, 7-3 PSAC) scored 23 of the next 29 points to build a 14-point advantage with under 11 minutes to go.
 
Back-to-back treys from Satterfield –his only points of the second half—pulled Bernie Driscoll's club back within five, 81-76, with 2:27 remaining, but Robert Smith answered with a three for the Golden Rams to extend their lead back to eight.
 
Allen sank three free throws for WCU and KU missed its last two free throws and field goal attempts down the stretch.
 
Satterfield paced all scorers with a career-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting and canned 6-of-10 from beyond the arc. Pagan added 17 points and six assists, while Cunningham had seven points and a team-leading eight boards. Jaiden McGhee (Townsend, Del./Middletown) finished with eight points in 15 minutes before fouling out.
 
Joshua Walker led four Golden Ram starters in double figures with 18 points. Allen had 17, Smith 16 and Jordan Kellier 10. Smith hit three of his four 3-pointers in the second half, helping WCU shoot 56% overall (14-of-25) and 75% from three (6-of-8) in the period.
 
With the victory, West Chester improved to 5-1 in its last six games at Keystone Arena dating back to Feb. 3, 2018. The Golden Rams finished at 50% shooting for the game (27-of-54) and got to the foul line a whopping 39 times, making 26 (66.7%).
 
There were 43 fouls whistled in the game between the two teams and the 39 free throw attempts were the second most by a Golden Bear opponent in a game this season.
 
Kutztown couldn't replicate its hot start after the break, dropping off to 42.9% shooting in the second (9-of-21). West Chester's work on the glass, where they held a 20-rebound advantage (40-20), led to a sizable 27-4 surplus in second chance points.
 
The Golden Bears begin a three-game road swing Saturday at Bloomsburg. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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