West Chester Wins Close Game At Kutztown, 85-82

KUTZTOWN, Pa. - West Chester University men's basketball clung to a small lead for the majority of the second half and ultimately picked up an important 85-82 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division win over Kutztown University on Wednesday night.
 
The Golden Rams (17-8 overall, 11-8 PSAC) fell behind the Golden Bears (8-11, 10-15) 8-0 right away and then 31-21 with 8:33 left in the first half. However, a three-pointer from WCU junior guard Colin Daly (Havertown, Pa. / Archbishop Carroll) right before halftime gave his team a 39-38 lead at the break.
 
West Chester senior guard Malik Jackson (Lansdowne, Pa. / Penn Wood) had 15 points in the first half and finished the game with a game-high 22. Jackson has scored at least 20 points in nine games this season, and he's second on the team scoring 16.7 points on average. He went 7-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three on Wednesday.
 
With the game tied at 79 and 55 seconds left in regulation, WCU freshman Matt Dade (Collegeville, Pa. / Episcopal Academy) made a layup to give the Golden Rams a lead that they never gave up. Dade dropped 16 points against the Golden Bears. The freshman who began to see extended minutes over the second half of the season is averaging 11.3 points over the team's last nine games. Dade is making an eye-popping 62 percent of his field goals while playing 20.8 minutes per game in that span.
 
Freshman guard Robbie Heath (Whittlesea, Australia / Abington) added 19 points in a team-high 37 minutes Wednesday's win. His 23.5 points per game this season are leading the PSAC by a wide margin and are tied for 13th in all of Division II men's basketball.
 
The win has West Chester sitting comfortably in third place in the PSAC East with three games left on the regular season schedule. The conference tournament, which features six teams from each of the two PSAC divisions, runs from March 2-8.
 
West Chester's next game is at home on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Lock Haven University. Jackson and Tim Toro (Scranton, Pa. / Abington Heights) will be honored for Senior Day.

Saturday's game will also be dedicated to the #Play4Kay initiative intended to raise awareness for breast cancer. We encourage fans to wear pink to the game that will include t-shirt sales, raffle sales and a half-court shooting contest with proceeds going toward the Kay Yow Fund.