Golden Bears win share of PSAC East

East Stroudsburg Warriors 74
Kutztown Golden Bears 82

Recap:
The KU men’s basketball team is the PSAC East champion! The Golden Bears defeated East Stroudsburg on Saturday to improve their divisional record to 10-2, which ties them with Cheyney for a share of the PSAC East regular season title. By virtue of a tiebreaker, the Wolves will be the number-one seed for the playoffs, but the Golden Bears will still get at least one home playoff game. On Tuesday evening, KU will play host to third seed Millersville, while ESU will head to Cheyney. The Golden Bears finish the regular season 19-8 overall.

Key Stat:
The Golden Bears hit 15 more free throws than the Warriors, which proved to be the difference in the game. KU was 35-of-51 from the charity stripe, while ESU was 20-of-26. There were a total of 61 personal fouls and 41 turnovers in the game

Key Moment:
ESU’s Josh Wentz hit a three pointer with 40 seconds to play in the game, cutting his team’s deficit to five. That would be as close as the Warriors would get, as KU outscored them 5-2 in the final seconds to close out the game.

Golden Performance:
Andre Woodlin was in the zone—to say the least. He was 8-of-13 from the floor and scored a career-high 28 points. The junior was also 12-of-16 from the free throw line, grabbed 10 rebounds, recorded two steals, and dished out a pair of assists.

Not-So-Golden Performance:
If you were at this game, you should already know where I’m going with this. The refereeing was abysmal at best. Okay, fine. It sucked. My partner on the air Jason Ogle and I could not believe our eyes on several occasions and vehemently voiced our displeasure to the listening audience. I lost count of how many phantom calls were made, how many incorrect calls were made, and how many easy calls were missed. I suppose even referees have their bad days, and this was sure one of them. 61 fouls were whistled and seven players fouled out. Ridiculous.

Impact:
The Golden Bears win means that Millersville will be in town for Tuesday’s playoff game. Meanwhile, Cheyney will host East Stroudsburg at Cope Hall.

If Cheyney wins, the rest of the PSAC playoffs will be held at Cope Hall. If Cheyney falls and KU wins, the rest of the tournament will be at Keystone Hall. If both KU and CU fall, the remainder of the playoffs will be at Pucillo Gymnasium in Millersville. In the PSAC West, Edinboro will be the top seed and will play either IUP or Slippery Rock in the first round. Meanwhile, California (Pa.) will take on Clarion.

Check back in the next two days for a full playoff preview.