Kutztown, Gannon Advance to PSAC Mens Basketball Tournament Championship Game
Kutztown 103, Slippery Rock 90
Erie, Pa. - Stephen Dennis scored 32 points, including 28 in the first half and Kutztown shot over 61 percent from the field in defeating Slippery Rock 103-90 in the first semifinal game of the PSAC Tournament held at Gannon University’s Hammermill Center. The win sends the Golden Bears to their first PSAC Tournament championship game since 2004.
Dennis shot 11-for-14 from the field in the first half, many of which were drives to the basket, as Kutztown scored 30 of its 56 first-half points in the paint. For the game, the Golden Bears went 41-for-67 from the field. The 41 made field goals are the second-most in PSAC Tournament history, behind only IUP’s 42 from a 1981 tournament game against Edinboro. The 103 points are tied for the fourth-most in PSAC Tournament history.
Dennis was one of five Kutztown players in double figures. Dave Ben scored 22 points while Ryan Washington added 18. Mark Bower recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Andre Woodlin also scored 11. Maron Brown recorded a double-double for Slippery Rock, scoring 25 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Denell Stephens also scored 25, including 18 in the first half, and was just one rebound shy of a double-double himself with nine. Kyle Camper added 12 points and five assists for The Rock.
Kutztown shot a blistering 70 percent from the field in the first half (21-for-30), with five of its nine missed field goals being from three-point range. Slippery Rock led only briefly early on in the first half, and the Golden Bears ended the half on an 11-3 run to open a 12-point halftime lead, their largest of the game up to that point. In the second half, Slippery Rock cut the lead to four on three occasions, the last one coming at the 13:20 mark on a pair of free throws by Camper to make it 66-62. But from that point, Kutztown went on a 21-10 run to open up its largest lead of the game, 15 at 87-72 at the 8:09 mark. From that point, The Rock would get no closer than nine points the rest of the game.
Kutztown advances to play the winner of the Gannon-Cheyney game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
Gannon 69, Cheyney 50
Erie, Pa. - Gannon used a big run late in the first half to open up a 13-point halftime lead and the Golden Knights defense did the rest of the work, holding Cheyney to 33.9 percent shooting from the field and 2-for-18 from three-point range as the Knights rolled to a 69-50 victory over the Wolves in the second semfinal of the PSAC men’s basketball tournament.
Kyle Goldcamp recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Knights. Joe Lindsey led the team in scoring with 16 while George Johnson had 11. Tyler Stoczynski had 12 rebounded and also contributed eight points. Cheyney was led by Dominque Curry’s double-double, as he had 16 points and 14 boards. Tyrone Smith added 14 points.
Gannon held Cheyney to just 26.7 percent shooting in the first half (8-for-30) and just 1-of-8 from three-point range. Cheyney led as late as 13:28 mark in the first half, by two, but a three by George Johnson at that point ignited an 8-0 run by the Golden Knights to put them up 12-6 just a minute later. From that point, Gannon turned up its defense as the Knights went on a 20-6 run to open up their largest lead, 32-12 at the 3:11 mark. Cheyney cut it to a 15-point halftime lead.
In the second half, Cheyney was never able to get the deficit into single digits as it never fell below 15 points in the entire second half. Their biggest lead was 23, which came three times.
Gannon will host tomorrow’s PSAC championship game against Kutztown at 7:00 p.m.