Kutztown men mark Senior Day with 14th straight win
The No. 6 Kutztown University men’s basketball team celebrated Senior Day with its 14th straight victory, tied for the third-longest in program history, as the Golden Bears defeated Millersville 90-78 on Saturday, Feb. 18 inside Keystone Arena to stay atop the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Division with two games remaining in the regular season.
The 14-game winning streak is the longest since the 2009-10 team began its season 14-0. KU (22-2, 18-2 PSAC) also moved into fourth in the program annals for wins in a season and tied last year’s team for most PSAC victories in program history.
As a team, Kutztown made 20-of-25 (80.0 percent) from the foul line and 10-of-25 (40.0) form 3-point range.
KU also outrebounded Millersville 41-32, which led to an 18-6 edge in second-chance points, and despite only winning the turnover battle 12-10, outscored the Marauders in points off turnovers 17-8.
Dan Cuevas also neared a double-double, the first of his career, with 15 points and eight rebounds to help the Golden Bear bench outscore Millersville’s bench 39-19.
Ethan Ridgeway had 13 points and dished out a game-high seven assists to move into third place in program history with 409 for his career. Remarkably, he has already surpassed 200 assists for the season in just 24
games.
Women’s basketball
After defending an early run in the fourth quarter, the Kutztown University women’s basketball team held off Millersville, 5149, on Senior Day in its final regular-season home game of the year at Keystone Arena on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, KU (812 PSAC, 11-17) broke a tie with the Marauders (7-13, 9-16) for fifth place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East with two contests remaining in the season. The Golden Bears can clinch a berth in the PSAC Tournament with a win in at least one of its two final games.
Despite the Marauders opening the fourth on a 12-0 run, and reducing Kutztown’s lead to just one point, 46-47, with 1:18 left in regulation, they were unable to overtake the Maroon and Gold. KU hit four free throws in the final 49 seconds, capped by Karen Lapkiewicz going 2-for-2 with 12 seconds to spare to make it a two-possession game.
Jenna Altomare was the sole double-digit scorer for Kutztown as she led the Maroon and Gold with 12 points and a seasonhigh four assists. With her 59th 3-pointer of the season, and her 186th overall, she is just five triples behind the program’s all-time leader.
Women’s swimming
The Kutztown University women’s swimming team had its strongest contingent of the weekend at the finals session of the 2017 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships. Five Golden Bears qualified for Saturday night’s finals while 6-of-9 swimmers posted careerbest marks on Day Three of PSACs at the Graham Aquatic Center.
In the finals, Claire Frank finished second in the C-Final for 18th overall, while Bleiler slightly improved upon her time at 1:00.31 for third in the race - 19th overall.
All three Golden Bears in the 100-breast posted career-best times. Bridget Perdoch (Yardley, Pa./ Pennsbury) led the team and qualified for the C-Final
Wrestling
with a time of 1:09.52. It seeded her 23rd and improved upon her 10th-best time in school history. In the finals, she held her mark of 23rd by finishing seventh in the race in 1:10.21.
Jeff Reimel (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) and Lucas Miller (Perkiomenville, Pa./Boyertown Area) won sudden-victory matches Tuesday night to lead the 25th-ranked Kutztown University wrestling team to a 24-16 victory over East Stroudsburg University on Senior Night at Keystone Arena.
The Golden Bears (12-5, 4-3 PSAC) only needed to win two of the seven contested matches against the injury-ridden Warriors, who received votes in the latest national poll. ESU was forced to forfeit the 165, 174 and 285-pound weight classes - giving KU an 18-point advantage.
Kutztown trailed 17-15 through 184, needing to limit ESU to no more than four team points to secure the victory - knowing it would receive six points for a forfeit at heavyweight.
Reimel went up against Brandon Steele at 197. Steele led Reimel 6-3 heading into the final period. With Steele backing off offensively, Reimel continued to pressure and forced Steele into three stalling points in the final period, including the third with 10 seconds remaining to force overtime.
In overtime, Steele worked his way behind Reimel, but when he picked up Reimel for a potential takedown, Steele was called for a dangerous move for dropping Reimel on his head, awarding Reimel a point and the 7-6 sudden-victory.
Miller was KU’s other winner Tuesday night. He also went to added time as the match was tied 6-6 through regulation. With Miller wrestling aggressive, ESU’s Connor Maliff was called for multiple stalling calls through the match, including the final one in overtime to award Miller a 7-6 sudden-victory.
Prior to Tuesday’s match, three KU seniors were honored as part of Senior Night. Ryan Krecker (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area (Campbell)), Matt Benvenuto (Stanhope, N.J./ Lenape Valley Regional) and Ryne Morrison (Berkeley Heights, N.J./Governor Livingston (Ursinus)) took part in a pre-match ceremony to recognize their career achievements and dedication to the KU wrestling program.
Kutztown looks ahead to the NCAA Super Region I Championships on Feb. 24-25 at Mercyhurst University in Erie.