Kutztown climbs to third in NABC/Division II Top 25 poll

KUTZTOWN, PA. (January 12, 2010) – The Kutztown University men’s basketball team is ranked third in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)/Division II Coaches Top 25 poll of the 2009-10 season released Tuesday afternoon.

It’s the highest the Golden Bears have been ranked in their men’s basketball history. This is the fifth consecutive poll, Kutztown has been ranked in the top 10. The Golden Bears, off to their best start in more than 90 years, are one of nine remaining unbeaten teams in Division II. Kutztown is ranked behind Augusta State and Arkansas Tech.

The Golden Bears (12-0 overall) received 177 points in the weekly poll. Kutztown enjoyed a 3-0 week after defeating Goldey-Beacom (76-74), Edinboro (96-88) and Lock Haven (71-66). During its perfect week, Kutztown received strong efforts from junior center Ryan Washington (Philadelphia/Wissahickon), senior guard and Division II national player of the year candidate Stephen Dennis (West Chester/Henderson) and junior guard Julius Gray (Lincoln University/Oxford

In earning Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division Player of the Week honors for the second time this season, Dennis, who has scored 1,883 career points, averaged 25.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists. He also made 56.1 percent of his shots in scoring 20 or more points in every game last week.

Overall, Dennis and Washington are the top two scorers in the PSAC. Dennis leads the conference with a 24.5 scoring average. Washington averages 22.7 points. They are the highest scoring duo in Division II, combining for 47.2 points per game. Nationally, Dennis is fourth and Washington is 11^th.

In addition to leading the PSAC in scoring, Dennis is second in assists (5.8) and sixth in steals (2.6).

Washington leads the PSAC in field goal percentage (67.1) and is second in blocked shots per game (2.7). He is third in rebounding (10.4). Through 12 games, Washington has posted seven double-doubles and scored 20 or more points eight times.

Gray, who scored a career-high 24 points in a victory at Edinboro last weekend, leads Kutztown with 36 3-pointers. Overall Gray is tied for second in the PSAC in 3-pointers made per game (3.0) and ninth in scoring (16.0). 

Kutztown starts a tough stretch of games in which two of its next three are on the road. This week the Golden Bears host 24^th-ranked and undefeated East Stroudsburg (Wednesday January 13 at 8 p.m.) and travel to Millersville (Saturday, January 16 at 3 p.m.)

The games against East Stroudsburg and Millersville will be broadcast live on the Golden Bear Network at http://www.kutztown.edu/goldenbearnetwork/home.html.

NABC/Division II Coaches Poll (Jan. 12, 2010 – Regular season poll #7) Record Points Pvs
1. Augusta State, Ga. (8 first place votes) 13-0 200 3
2. Arkansas Tech 14-0 192 5
3. KUTZTOWN 12-0 177 6
4. Minnesota State 14-0 170 7
5. Southern Indiana 15-0 166 8
6. Fort Hays State, Kan. 13-1 162 10
7. Midwestern State, Texas 14-0 149 9
8. Central Missouri 13-1 146 1
9. Florida Southern 13-1 138 2
10. Kentucky Wesleyan 16-1 121 13
11. Valdosta State, Ga. 14-2 118 12
12. Indiana, Pa. 11-1 108 4
13. Montevallo, Ala. 12-0 103 15
14. Quincy, Ill. 14-0 101 16
15. Seattle Pacific, Wash. 11-2 76 17
16. Southwest Baptist, Mo. 14-3 71 11
17. Bentley, Mass. 12-2 61 19
18. Augustana, S.D. 13-1 60 21
19. Western Washington 14-2 71 14
20. Cal Poly Pomona 7-2 40 22
21. Mesa State, Colo. 12-1 37 24
22. Drury, Mo. 11-3 32 18
23. Rollins, Fla. 10-3 29 20
24. East Stroudsburg, Pa. 13-0 21 NR
25. West Virginia State 9-1 9 NR

Dropped out: Stillman (23), Adelphi (25). 

Others receiving votes: Findlay (Ohio) 8, Metropolitan State (Colo.) 8, BYU-Hawaii 7, Nebraska-Omaha 6, Stillman (Ala.) 6, Tarleton State (Texas) 5, Georgia College & State 4, Stonehill (Mass.) 4, Alaska-Anchorage 3, Clark Atlanta (Ga.) 2, Adelphi (N.Y.) 1, West Liberty (W.Va.) 1.

Records are through games of Jan. 10, 2010...previous ranking is from Jan. 5 poll.

--KU--