FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Kutztown outlast Mansfield 95-88 in OT

Boxscore

KUTZTOWN – Tony Fannick had an almost perfect shooting night, but Tamir Johnson scored nine of his game-high 30 points in overtime to lead Kutztown to a 95-88 win over Mansfield Thursday night to take over sole possession of first place in the PSAC East.

It was a game, between two heated-rivals, that lived up to expectations with both teams tied for the PSAC East leading going into the final game of first half play.

The game was tight from the outset.

Kutztown (13-6, 6-1 PSAC East) got a 3-pointer from Julius Gray as time expired in the first half to take a 39-37 lead into halftime.

Mansfield's season leading scorer Yuseff Carr picked up his fourth foul of the game a little more than two minutes into the second half forcing him to sit on the bench for a 10 minute stretch.
Trailing 45-41 when Carr committed his fourth foul, Mansfield rallied behind Tony Fannick and Kyle Bradley going on a 17-4 run over a four and a half minute span to take a 58-49 lead on a dunk by Derrison Anthony with 13:09 to play.

Mansfield (13-6, 5-2 PSAC East) still led 66-58 at the 10 minute mark before Kutztown went on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 66-66 on a jumper by Nate Edwards a little more than 90 seconds later.
Mansfield took a 76-72 lead on a 3-pointer by Lavail Owens with 5:10 to play but Kutztown tied the game on a pair of free throws by Devon McBride with just under three minutes to go.

The game was tied at 78-78 when Anthony hit a layup to give Mansfield an 80-78 advantage with 70 seconds in regulation before Devon McBride tied the game for Kutztown on a layup 20 seconds later.
With six seconds left in regulation, Bradley drove the baseline but was called for an offensive foul and Kutztown's Eric Henry missed a layup as time expired to send the game into overtime.

Mansfield missed its first three shots in overtime and the Mountaineers and Kutztown took an 87-82 lead midway through the overtime period before Fannick buried a 3-pointer to close the gap to 87-85.
But the Mountaineers, who would lose Anthony, Fannick and Carr to fouls in overtime, could pull no closer.

Mansfield was outrebounded 44-29 overall including 16-9 on the offensive glass. It was the first time in in six games the Mountaineers had been outrebounded and was the largest deficit of the season. Kutztown connected on 24-31 free throw attempts to Mansfield 9-14 with the Mountaineers being called for 26 fouls to Kutztown's 15.

Mansfield did hit a season best 13-22 on their 3-point attempts while Kutztown was 7-11 on 3s.
Fannick, who went 9-10 from the floor including 6-7 on 3-point attempts, led four Mansfield players in double-figures with 25 points. Bradley, a freshman, scored a season-best 16 points. With Anthony adding 14 points and Owens 11 points.

Tamir Johnson led Kutztown (13-6, 6-1 PSAC East) with 30 points and 16 rebounds. Devon McBride scored 19 points.

Mansfield travels to West Chester this Saturday to open the second half of PSAC East play.