Box Score  l  Blue Ridge TV-13 Broadcast on ESU Warriors "All Access"

EAST STROUDSBURG – Eric Brennan had 13 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists to lead Kutztown to a 75-61 win over East Stroudsburg University in the first of two meetings this season between the top two teams in the PSAC East men's basketball preseason poll on Saturday at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Micah Fraction scored a game-high 20 points, Nate Edwards had 15 and Devon McBride scored 14 as the Golden Bears' top four scorers combined for 62 of their 75 points for the division's preseason favorites. Kutztown (9-6 overall) moved into second in the PSAC East with a 6-4 conference record, two games behind Bloomsburg.

Senior guard Russell Graham III scored 16 points and freshman guard Whis Grant had 12 points to lead ESU (9-7, 5-5), which shot just 27.5 percent (19-for-69), its worst mark since 2005. The Warriors were just 4-for-25 from the three-point line and 0-for-11 in the first half.

Senior forward Eric Bryan, playing in his 99th career game, had nine points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Matt Tobin had eight points and junior guard Gerald Bridges, Jr. had two points, nine rebounds, two assists and four steals to lead the bench effort.

Kutztown led 37-29 at intermission, finishing the first half on an 11-6 run, and opened a 15-point lead with a 14-7 run to start the second half.

The Warriors' best stretch of the second half was a 7-0 run sparked by a three-pointer by freshman guard Matt Tobin to get within 62-48 with just under 10 minutes left, but they went the next seven minutes without a field goal while holding Kutztown without a basket for six minutes.

The 15-point margin, the biggest for ESU since an 82-63 loss to Wayne State (Mich.) in December 2010, marked just the sixth time in the last 20 meetings between ESU and Kutztown that the game was decided by more than five points.

The Warriors won their last two meetings last year, a 69-68 home win and an 83-70 win at Kutztown in the PSAC quarterfinals, and had won three of the last four meetings at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU has alternated wins and losses in each of the first five weeks of the PSAC schedule and stands third in the PSAC East at 5-5, two games clear of Mansfield and West Chester. The Warriors opened divisional play with a 76-56 win over Mansfield on Wednesday.

Next week's schedule sends the Warriors to Millersville on Wednesday and Shippensburg on Saturday. Millersville (4-9, 2-7) won its divisional opener over West Chester, 89-83, on Saturday and plays at Cheyney (2-10, 1-8) in a make-up game on Monday before hosting the Warriors.