By Lee Finkelstein
The Men’s Basketball team was able to earn another victory on the road as they took down Bloomsburg 89-85 on Saturday. Josh Johnson scored 21 points without missing a shot for the afternoon (9-for-9 from the field).
The Golden Bears (12-7, 9-4 PSAC) continued to do a great job with protecting the ball and were able to shoot effectively from the field. Head Coach Bernie Driscoll involved many players in the game on the offensive end to produce their third straight game scoring at least 88 points.
Johnson led four double-digit scorers for KU with a game-high 21 points and six rebounds in only 15 minutes. Johnson’s reason for lack of playing time was due to foul trouble, but that didn’t seem to bother the 6-8 forward.
Both teams made more than half of their shot attempts for the game. KU did a great job at reducing their turnovers in each of the last three games, and despite breaking that streak Saturday, Kutztown’s mere ten turnovers were good for a five point advantage over the Huskies.
Five different players were successful behind the three point line in an effective 8-for-15 effort as a team. Freshman Ethan Ridgeway shot a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc as Howard Sellars put in two. Sellars finished with 16 points in 17 minutes.
KU led by as many as 15 in the first half with a 13-point advantage at halftime with a score of 42-29. The second half lead grew to as many as 21 with 13:16 to play, but the Huskies would not make the game easy for the Golden Bears after that.
During the next 11 minutes, Bloomsburg cut the lead to 11 with 1:57. Bloomsburg’s Jon Riles then got hot and knocked down four three-pointers in the final 41 seconds. Riles hit back-to-back three-pointers around a missed 1-and-1 attempt by KU to cut its deficit to six with 28 seconds to play. KU hit all six of its free throw attempts in the final 19 seconds to avoid the late Bloomsburg comeback.
Tynell Fortune scored 15 points and shot 6-for-7 at the free throw line, while Tyler Brooks scored 11 points and dished out a team-high six assists and four steals.
The Golden Bears return to action for their battle for first place in the PSAC East against East Stroudsburg on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 3 p.m.