KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Bloomsburg men's basketball team fell in overtime to Kutztown, 89-87, in a Pennsylvania State Athleitc Conference (PSAC) matchup at the Keystone Arena on Wednesday night.
 
Matt Bengel (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) recorded a career-high 32 points on 12-of-16 shooting. The senior guard was lights-out from three-point territory, going 4-for-4. Bengel hauled in five rebounds and registered one steal in the effort. Louie Wild (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) posted 19 points with four three-pointers while Danny Bruce (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane) finished with ten points.
 
Overall, the Huskies finished with 33-for-60 shooting (55.0 percent) while the Golden Bears shot 44.9 percent (31-for-69) from the floor.
 
Kutztown (6-10, 3-7 PSAC) jumped ahead to an early 7-0 run with points from three different players. Isiah Sherman (Philadelphia, Pa./Lincoln) drained a pair of free throws to put Bloomsburg (3-13, 2-7) to put the Huskies on the board.
 
A three-pointer from the Golden Bears' Jalen Bryant gave the home team a nine-point advantage just over three minutes into the contest. Xion Nichols (Woodland, Ca./State College Area), Wild and Bengel combined for four three-pointers to close the gap before a layup from Nichols tied the game at 18-18.
 
Back-to-back, successful trips to the free-throw line for each team moved the score to 20-20 before Bengel nailed a three-pointer to give the maroon and gold its first lead of the contest. Bloomsburg and Kutztown traded points for the remainder of the half, with the Huskies taking a 34-33 lead into halftime.
 
Bengel recorded the first points of the second half with a layup before Amir Cunningham notched back-to-back layups of his own to give Kutztown the lead. The teams went back to exchanging the lead for much of the second half, with the maroon and gold holding the largest lead of eight points at the 8:57-mark.
 
The final minutes of the half saw back-and-forth lead exchanges before Kutztown took a 76-74 lead with 48 seconds remaining. Sherman then brought the ball into the paint before dishing it to Bruce who went up and off the glass to tie the game. In the final seconds, Wild failed to get a three-point attempt off before the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
 
Kutztown took control of the overtime period, going on an 11-6 run to lead 87-82 with a minute-and-a-half remaining. A three-pointer and a layup from Bengel tied the contest with 37 seconds remaining. A foul sent the Golden Bears to the line and sank both free-throws to take the lead, 89-87.
 
With seven seconds remaining, Wild launched a three-pointer that was off the mark and landed in the hands of Tony Henderson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice). Henderson then put up a shot attempt that missed the mark and landed with Bengel who kicked it to Bruce. A third effort from Bruce went off the glass and back to Henderson whose shot at the buzzer sat on the rim before falling away, giving Kutztown an 89-87 win.
 
Bloomsburg returns to action on Saturday, January 18 for a 3 p.m. contest against East Stroudsburg at the Koehler Fieldhouse.