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Box Score
CALIFORNIA (Jan. 8) – After trailing by 16 points at halftime, the California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team rallied to take the lead in the second half before suffering a 72-66 loss to Kutztown on Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Crossover play.
The Vulcans have now lost two-straight games in crossover action to fall to 6-4 overall this season. Meanwhile, the Golden Bears snapped their two-game losing streak to improve to 7-3 this year after losing in the PSAC Championship last season.
Junior
Steve Swiech (Greenock, Pa./Elizabeth-Forward) scored a team-high 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field on Saturday. He also collected eight rebounds (five offensive) in 29 minutes. Since moving into the starting role, the 6-9 forward is second on the team in scoring with 15.0 points per game after shooting over 57 percent from the floor.
Sophomore guard
Quentin Harding (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) finished with 15 points, while senior forward
Rashaw Hatten (Clairton, Pa. / Clairton) scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Hatten also collected eight rebounds, three assists and four blocks against the Golden Bears.
Kutztown shot a blistering 61.9 percent in the first half to take a 40-24 halftime lead. In the early stages of the second half, the Vulcans scored 11-straight points over a span of five minutes to cut the deficit to 47-42 with 11:25 left in the game. The Golden Bears quickly scored a pair of baskets to stretch its lead to nine points before Harding nailed a three-pointer to make it a two-possession game, 51-45, with 10 minutes remaining.
Cal U later tied the game at 54-54 before taking its second lead of the game at 58-57 with a fastbreak lay-up by Hatten at the 7:18-mark. Harding made another trey on the next Vulcans' possession to make it a four-point game, 61-57, prior to Kutztown scoring 10-unanswered points. Trailing with 3:12 remaining, Swiech made a lay-up to trim the deficit to 67-65 before the Golden Bears sealed the victory by scoring five of the next six points.
Despite shooting nearly 46 percent in the second half, Cal U posted its lowest shooting percentage of the season at 34.2 percent (27-of-79). The Vulcans also shot a season-low from the free-throw line by making just 50.0 percent (7-of-14). In comparison, the Golden Bears shot almost 62 percent in the first half before finishing the game shooting at a 47.6 clip (20-of-42). Kutztown also held a sizeable advantage at the charity stripe by connecting on 28-of-43 free-throws (65.1 percent).
In the loss, the Vulcans out-rebounded the Golden Bears by a 46-43 margin with 25 offensive rebounds leading to 20 second-chance points. Cal U also collected 10 steals after forcing Kutztown in 20 turnovers.
Senior guard Julius Gray scored a game-high 25 points for Kutztown behind four three-pointers, while classmate Tamir Johnson posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Cal U returns to action tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, Jan. 9, when it hosts East Stroudsburg at Hamer Hall for a 3 p.m. tip-off. Live stats of the game will be available by clicking
here.
