Ben there, done that

Kutztown Golden Bears 78
East Stroudsburg Warriors 56

Recap: The Golden Bears struggled out of the gate against PSAC rival East Stroudsburg, trailing by 11 at the half. It would be another story in the second half, however, as Dave Ben led KU to 52 second half points and, in turn, to a comfortable win. The Golden Bears shot 62 percent in the second half and outscored the Warriors 52-19. It was easily the team’s best half of the season and possibly one of its best ever.

Telling Stat: The Warriors shot just 13.3% in the second half, making just 4 (yes, I said four) of their 30 field goal attempts. The KU defense clamped down hard in the second half and the offense was not far behind, scoring 52 total points.

Key play: Ryan Washington hit a jumper 2 minutes into the second half, which cut KU’s deficit to 11. From there, KU would score another 15 straight points to take their first lead of the game. The Golden Bears would eventually turn that 17-0 run into a 28-4 run and then coasted to the victory from there.

Most Valuable Golden Bear: David Ben scored a career high 32 points, which was also a season high for KU. 24 of Ben’s points came in the second half, one in which he, by himself, outscored ESU 24-19. The junior was 12-of-20 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. He also chipped in with 6 boards, 2 assists, and a steal.

Least Valuable Golden Bear: Starting center Jeremy Coombs played just 16 minutes and made little impact. Coombs was 0-for-4 from the free throw line and grabbed just 2 rebounds. If anything, Coombs did see some second half minutes when KU held ESU to just 19 points. Coombs will need to step it up if KU hopes to have any answer for the league’s big men, most notably Cheyney’s Robbie Simpson.

Impact: The Golden Bears win returns them to the top spot in the PSAC East at 5-1. This time around, however, KU is tied with Cheyney for that spot. The Wolves, of course, hold the tiebreaker as they are responsible for KU’s only divisional loss. The two teams meet again at Cheyney on Feb. 23. Also of note in this game were the efforts of point guard Stephen Dennis. The sophomore has been hobbled by injury over the past few weeks, but looked like he was back to 100 percent last night. He didn’t shoot as well as he can, but he certainly looked like his speed and agility was back to normal.

Photo: The play Dennis was injured on against Millersville on Jan. 23.