Kutztown basketball teams primed for PSAC playoffs
Men’s Basketball
The Kutztown University men’s basketball team had five players score in doublefigures for the fifth time this season, as it gathered some much needed momentum in an 85-62 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) regular season finale win at Lock Haven University on Feb. 24.
The Golden Bears (20-6 overall, 16-6 PSAC) won their 20th game this season. It is just the seventh time in program history to achieve the feat, the sixth time under head coach Bernie Driscoll, and third straight season.
Playing without its facilitator in senior point guard Ethan Ridgeway (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin), KU found other distributors for its scorers. KU had 18 total assists, with four players record at least two, and eight had at least one. There was also plenty of different scorers, as five players tallied double-digit points, led by 17 points from sophomore Max Wagner (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge), and nine players scored at least three points.
The 17 points is a career-high for Wagner, who also grabbed nine rebounds. Moe Williams (Townsend, Del./Life Center Academy) and Anthony Lee (Willow Grove, Pa./ Abington) both netted 14 points, and Rafiq Marshall (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz (Cheyney)) and Josh Townsend (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) each contributed 10 points. Townsend also had eight rebounds and a career-high two assists in 23 minutes of action.
KU, the fourth seed, set its sights to the postseason as it hosted fifth seed Bloomsburg University (15-11, 11-11) on Monday, Feb. 26.
Women’s Basketball
Alexis Smith (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) poured in a season-high 25 points in 20 minutes off the bench, tying a KU freshman-record with seven three-pointers, to fuel the Kutztown University women’s basketball team over the Lock Haven University Bald Eagles, 84-64, in its final regular season game on the road on Feb. 24.
As a team, KU shot 53.8 percent from deep, making 14-of-26 attempts, one shy of the school-record set earlier this season on Nov. 25 against Penn State Lehigh Valley. Smith tied teammate Rylee Derr (Lititz, Pa./Warwick)’s freshman and school-record of seven three-pointers made in a single game which came on Jan. 17 at home versus Cheyney.
With Millersville pulling out a win on the road at East Stroudsburg, the Maroon and Gold will be the four-seed in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Playoffs, which began Monday, Feb. 26. Kutztown hosted No. 5 Bloomsburg, welcoming the Huskies to Keystone Arena where KU is sporting a 12-3 record this year.
The Golden Bears had five players score in double-figures led by Smith with 25, four of whom came off the bench. Rylee Derr (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) scored 13 points as KU’s lone starter in doubledigits and is now just five points shy of breaking the Kutztown freshman record for points in a season of 381 set by Patty Gruber in 1986. From the reserve unit, Alex Leader (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin), Gabbi Wright (Elkins Park, Pa./Cheltenham) and Zoe Zerman (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) each scored 10, 10 and 13 points, respectively, shooting a combined 7-of-11 from beyond the arc. In total, eight Golden Bears scored in the game and 11 played in 10 minutes or more for head coach Janet Malouf.
Wrestling
Kutztown University’s Jeff Reimel (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), Austin Petril (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby (Ursinus)) and Ryan Appleby (Belvidere, N.J./ Belvidere) all finished in the top-four at Saturday’s NCAA Super Region I Championships, earning them repeat trips to the NCAA National Championships in two weeks in Iowa.
Reimel was the runner-up at 184 pounds to qualify for nationals for the second-straight year. Petril won a tight 2-1 decision in the fourth-place match at 125 to earn a trip to nationals for the second year in a row. Appleby finished in fourth place at heavyweight, earning his third career trip to nationals.
As a team, Kutztown had four medalists, as Christopher Crane (Manahawkin, N.J./Southern Regional) wrestled for a chance to go to nationals in the fourthplace match. He fell to the third-ranked 133-pounder in the country, as the redshirt-sophomore turned in an impressive fifth-place finish in his first career regional.
Men’s Track & Field
Ten Golden Bears scored points, including 11 from senior Steve Maine (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) across two events with an all-conference performance in the 3000m, to help the Kutztown University men’s track & field team hold on to its sixth-place standing from Day 1 to cap off the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday afternoon, hosted by Edinboro University.
Kutztown finished in sixth place with 52 points, an improvement of one position from last year.
Maine finished third in the 3000m and fourth in the mile to score KU 11 points on the day, pushing his weekend total to 21 with his championship-winning 4x800m relay team on Saturday. Both of Maine’s finishes Sunday were his best career PSAC finishes in those indoor events, earning All-PSAC honors in the 3000m in 8:51.75 and finishing fourth in the mile in 4:18.22.
Fellow senior C.J. Lindsay Jr. (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville Area) scored five points with a career-best, fourthplace run in the 60m finals. He finished in 6.97 seconds, just the third sprinter in school history to run a sub-7-second 60m dash. Lindsay Jr. remains third in school history.
Women’s Track & Field
EDINBORO, Pa. – Meghan Forsythe (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Hubert Catholic) won a conference championship in the 400m and broke the school record along the way, highlighting the Kutztown University women’s track & field team Sunday afternoon on the final day of the PSAC Championships from Edinboro University’s Mike S. Zafirovski Sports and Recreation Dome.
As a team, Kutztown finished eighth out of 16 teams with 47 total points. Shippensburg University came in first place with 106 points, followed by Slippery Rock in second with 77 and East Stroudsburg in third at 66.
Forsythe, who placed second in the 400m prelims on Saturday with a personal-best time of 57.87 (second all-time), improved that mark in the final when it mattered most, posting a time of 57.62. The previous program record of 57.73 was owned by Forsythe’s teammate and running mate in the event, Ashley Stewart (Lake Hopatcong, N.J./Jefferson Township). Stewart finished seventh in the final at 58.42. Forsythe is KU’s first 400m winner since Laura Kline in 2006.
Forsythe and Stewart, along with Kelly Groth (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) and Tishun Graham (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) earned a second-place finish in the 4x400 relay. Their time of 3:56.97 ranks second all-time in KU history, and earned KU eight team points.