KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's basketball team avoided the snowy winter storm outside of Keystone Arena and put up a storm against its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division foes, defeating the Bloomsburg Huskies, 79-47, on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Bears (5-9, 2-7 PSAC) were led by guards
Omari Banks (Middletown, Del./The Phelps School (Pa.)) and
Yahmir Satterfield (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter), who combined for 31 points on the afternoon. Satterfield's four made field goal attempts came from beyond the arc, and Banks went 8-for-10 from the floor to give the Huskies (4-12, 1-8 PSAC) its third consecutive 30-point loss.
Kutztown began to pull away from the Huskies at the midway point of the first half, and Bloomsburg lacked a response, despite many attempts to answer. The Golden Bears led by as many as 18 in the opening period, and while the visitors hit a series of shots to trim the lead, Banks was able to silence the momentum with a last-second jumper heading into the locker room.
It was all Maroon and Gold from there, as four straight KU buckets were hit coming out of the locker room, and Bloomsburg only connected on four baskets in the second half's first ten minutes, leading to a 41-point final half to put Kutztown back in the win column.
Banks added seven rebounds, five assists and three steals to his team-high 19 points.
Kidd Brizek (Greenville, S.C./Powdersville) went for 12 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes on the floor, while second-year guard
Josh McKoy (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) pulled down seven rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
Kutztown took advantage of a poor shooting performance by Bloomsburg, as they shot just 31.7 percent from the field compared to Kutztown's 51.9 percent. The Golden Bears also cashed in on BU's 15 fouls, going 18-for-22 from the charity stripe, led by a 5-for-5 night from center
Tobi Ogunbare (Dublin, Ireland/Lawrence (Mass.)).
The Golden Bears are on the road for a pair of games next week, traveling to Millersville on Wednesday, Jan. 21 for a 7:30 p.m. game with the Marauders, before crossing state lines to face Shepherd at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24. The team will follow that up with a three-game set, starting on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m. against East Stroudsburg inside Keystone Arena.
