KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Kutztown got within four points of Pitt-Johnstown with three minutes to play but the visiting Mountain Cats outscored the Golden Bears, 9-1, down the stretch to emerge with a 79-67 PSAC men's basketball crossover victory at Keystone Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Jordan Nkoa Abessolo (Yaoundé, Cameroon/St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) had 19 points and tied a season-high with 15 rebounds, while
Omari Banks (Middletown, Del./The Phelps School (Pa.)) added 14 points and
Yahmir Satterfield (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) 12 for the Golden Bears (2-5, 0-3 PSAC), who dropped their fourth straight game after a 2-1 start.
Closely contested most of the way, the first half featured six lead changes. Kutztown went in front for the first time, 18-16, on a Satterfield 3-pointer with 10:04 remaining in the opening period. Later in the half, Nkoa Abessolo converted a 3-point play and
Kidd Brizek (Greenville, S.C./Powdersville) scored at the tin to give the Maroon and Gold their largest lead of the game, 33-29, with 3:36 to go.
Adam Bilinsky and Will Kromka each had three points as Pitt-Johnstown (9-3, 3-1 PSAC) closed the half on an 8-2 run to take a 37-35 edge to the locker room.
Satterfield scored all 12 of his points over the first 20 minutes, shooting 4-of-8 from the floor with a pair of treys. Brizek chipped in nine points on 4-of-5 shooting as both teams enjoyed solid shooting efforts with KU making 14-of-30 attempts (46.7%) and the Mountain Cats connecting at a 48.5% rate (16-of-33).
Kutztown evened the score at 50 on a
Tobi Ogunbare (Dublin, Ireland/Lawrence (Mass.)) layup with 13:11 remaining, but the Bears were unable to take a second half lead.
Another Ogunbare layup closed the gap to 70-66 with 3:04 to go, but Jay Rose quickly answered with a step-back three from the top of the key. UPJ held the Golden Bears to one point the rest of the way, while extending its lead to a game-high 12 by the final buzzer.
Both teams continued their efficient shooting in the second half. The Mountain Cats finished 29-of-55 (52.7%) overall and made 5-of-8 from 3-point range in the second. Kutztown jumped up to 48.1% from the floor for the game (26-of-54) by shooting 12-of-24 over the final 20 minutes but misfired on all six of their 3-point attempts after the break.
The Bears held a 34-31 edge on the boards, while UPJ committed five fewer turnovers (9-14) and saw its bench outscore KU's 27-17.
Ogunbare had eight points and seven assists in 22 minutes for the hosts.
Rose came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting for Pitt-Johnstown. Vinnie Cugini supplied 19 points (4-of-5 3FG) and five boards, Baden Forup had 12 points and seven rebounds and Bilinsky had 10 points as the Mountain Cats swept their crossover weekend after defeating East Stroudsburg, 83-79, Saturday.
Kutztown will make the trek west to open the 2026 portion of its schedule with two more PSAC crossover contests. The Golden Bears are at Seton Hill on Friday, Jan. 2, at 5 p.m., before wrapping up the weekend at California (Pa.) on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 3 p.m.
Â
