Box Score
KUTZTOWN – No. 24 East Stroudsburg University, playing with a national ranking for just the second time in school history, nearly pulled off an upset of a top five team in Division II in their own gym for the second straight season, falling to No. 3 Kutztown, 87-84, in the PSAC East opener at Keystone Arena.
The Warriors, who won 52-49 at No. 4 Gannon last January, entered the NABC poll on Tuesday for the first time since the 1991-92 season and proved themselves worthy of their national ranking after opening the season with a 13-0 record, the best start in school history.
In a game that lived up to the billing of two undefeated teams, ESU came out firing, leading the host Golden Bears for nearly the entire first half after going ahead 12-6 in the first four minutes. Kutztown grabbed its first lead at 19-17 on a three-pointer by Julius Gray, but senior guard Andy Heimbach answered right back with his own three-pointer on his first shot of the game.
ESU used Heimbach's shot as the spark for a 7-0 run after Heimbach hit a jumper on an assist from junior forward Mike Tobin and Tobin converted a three-point play. A bucket by freshman forward Terrance King, assisted by Heimbach, with 8:31 left gave the Warriors their largest lead of the game (28-21). Tobin (16 points), Heimbach (14) and King (12) were among five Warriors who reached double figures.
Kutztown put together a 14-4 push over the next three minutes and went ahead by three on a three-point play by Stephen Dennis, who scored a career-high 42 points, 21 in each half. Dennis shot 13-for-20 from the field for the game (10-13 in the first half) and 16-for-19 at the foul line (15-for-18 in the second half) for the Golden Bears.
Freshman forward Duane Johnson's three-pointer reclaimed the lead (36-35) with 4:30 to play and Tobin had an offensive rebound and putback on his own missed three for a three-point advantage. Kutztown scored the next six points before King scored the last of his 10 first-half points with 20 seconds to play. KU led 41-40 at halftime.
Senior guard Robby Pines ran the Warriors' offense brilliantly all night, with 11 points, nine assists and just two turnovers, and hit a three-pointer seven seconds into the second half to give his team the lead right back. An offensive rebound and layup by King gave ESU a 45-41 edge before Kutztown's 9-2 run made it 50-47. Pines had a steal and set up two layups as the Warriors scored the next six to go back in front at the 16-minute mark, and didn't trail again (62-59) until a three-point play by Dennis with 8:44 to play.
The Golden Bears built their lead to 77-67 with 5:30 left as Dennis began to make his living at the foul line. He shot 18 free throws in the second half – compared to ESU's 15 for the game – and was 11-for-13 in the final 10 minutes. Gray also made a pair of three's, the second one giving KU its 10-point advantage.
Heimbach answered right back with a three-pointer as the Warriors began to get back in the game. Freshman forward Marcus Brown scored and Heimbach hit two more jumpers to get ESU within 82-76 at the 2:12 mark. Kutztown center Ryan Washington set up a dunk by Tamir Johnson before junior guard Micah Covert stepped to the line, replacing an injured Mike Tobin, to make two with 1:30 to go. Covert split a pair with 40 seconds left to get the Warriors within 84-79, while Dennis also made one-of-two with 32 seconds left to put KU up by six.
The Warriors made it a one possession game on a clutch deep three-pointer by Pines with 24 seconds remaining and called timeout. They worked for a turnover at the defensive end before fouling Dennis with six seconds left. He finished his 42-point night with a pair of free throws for a five point lead, and Brown had a tip-in of a layup by Pines with 0.6 seconds left for the final score.
Dennis entered the game as the PSAC's leading scorer with 24.5 points per game. Gray had 19 points and shot 7-for-13, including a perfect 3-for-3 from the three-point line, and had seven rebounds in 39 minutes. Washington, second in the conference in scoring behind Dennis, had just three points (1-7 fg) but recorded 16 rebounds and six assists.
ESU's balance was on full display against one of the top teams in the nation and was nearly enough to pull off the monumental upset. Five players were in double figures - Tobin (16, coming off a career-high 20 at Edinboro), Heimbach (14), King (12), Pines (11) and sophomore forward Eric Bryan (career-high 10).
Tobin also led the Warriors with eight rebounds and had five assists, Brown had six points and six rebounds and King had four rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots.
ESU, led by Pines' nine assists and two turnovers at the point guard spot, committed just eight turnovers for the game, the lowest total ever in 205 games under eighth-year head coach Jeff Wilson. The Warriors had 22 assists on their 34 made field goals and shot 48.6 percent from the field, while Kutztown was a notch better at 53.4 percent (31-58).
The Golden Bears' largest advantage was at the foul line, where Dennis' 19 attempts were four more than ESU took for the game, going 8-for-15. Kutztown finished 20-for-31 – 4-for-12 outside of their starting point guard.
The Warriors saw the second-longest winning streak in school history end at 13 games and one game away from the school record of 14, which was set during the 1940-41 season. They host Shippensburg on Saturday in PSAC East action at 3 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse.
