MANSFIELD Pa. - Redshirt Freshman Justice Smith notched his third double-double of the season to lead the Mansfield University men's basketball team to a dramatic 75-71 victory over Kutztown inside Decker Gymnasium on Wednesday Jan. 26.

The Mounties (2-17 1-12 PSAC) starting five scored 70 of the teams 75 points, shooting a season best 52% from the floor.

Smith scored 25 points and collected ten rebounds in a game where he played all 40 minutes. Freshman Scott Woodring picked up his first double-double of his career scoring 13 and collecting 11 rebounds.

Sophomore Jaz Farrell scored 12 and picked up two assists, redshirt sophomore Marcus Friend had 11 points and a pair of assists. Freshman Idris Ali compiled nine points seven rebounds and five assists in the game. Senior Eli Alvin scored the remaining five points for Mansfield.

The win marks the first victory over Kutztown (7-11 4-8 PSAC) in eight years, and the Mountaineers picked up their first conference win of the season.

Mansfield and Kutztown played back-and-forth basketball in the first half, before the Mountaineers put together a 16-6 stretch that had them up by nine with seven minutes remaining in the half.  The Golden Bears battled back but Mansfield held the 33-29 lead at the break.

The second half the Golden Bears tie the game at 50-50, exactly halfway through. The final ten minutes saw four lead changes. Kutztown went up 71-70 on a Robert Tucker layup before Woodring put the Mounties back on top for good with a layup with 37 seconds remaining. A Jalen Bryant missed three point try with four seconds left solidified victory for Mansfield.  

Tucker led for the Golden Bears of the bench scoring 18 to go along with 13 rebounds.

Mansfield is back in action Saturday Jan. 29, as they welcome West Chester for the second matchup between the two this year.