RELEASE DATE: 1/28/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: John Hampton’s Career High 19 Points Leads Mounties to 95-88 Overtime Win Over Kutztown – Mansfield in First Place in PSAC East with 4-0 Mark

Mansfield – John Hampton scored a career high 19 points including a jumper with 3:13 remaining in overtime giving Mansfield the lead for good in a key 95-88 win over PSAC East win over Kutztown at Decker Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

The victory keeps the Mountaineers in a tie for first place in the PSAC East with East Stroudsburg who beat West Chester to improve to 4-0 in conference play.

“Its import when you only suit up nine guys that all nine guys show up to play,” said head coach Rich Miller. “Today all nine guys showed up and we got great effort from the guys off the bench – especially John Hampton.”

Mansfield increased a seven point halftime lead into a 56-43 advantage four minutes into the second half before Kutztown steadily chipped away taking a 81-77 lead on a jumper by Frank Moultrie with 2:27 to go.

The Mountaineers retook the lead with Brandon DeShields burying a long 3-pointer for an 82-81 advantage with just over a minute to play. That lead held until Kutztown’s Ben Arnold missed a jumper but was fouled in the scramble for the rebound with eight seconds remaining in regulation.

Arnold hit both free throws for an 83-82 lead. Mansfield in bounded the ball to freshman point guard Chris Greene who drove the length of the floor before being fouled by Arnold with three seconds remaining.

Greene’s first free throw went off the back of the iron, but the second one was all net tying the score at 83-83. Kutztown got one shot off that hit the rim before the buzzer sounded.

“We wanted to push the ball up the floor and put pressure on their defense,” said Miller. “In that situation you want to go to the hoop as hard as you can and hope you get the bucket or the foul.

It would be all Mounties in overtime David Hoopes, Hampton and DeShields combining to score all nine MU points. Kutztown managed just one field goal with second seconds left.

Hampton came off the bench to lead six Mountaineers in double figures hitting 6-9 from the floor and pulling down five rebounds. Hoopes scored five of his 18 points in overtime while hitting 4-9 3-pointers. DeShields had four of his 17 points in OT while also dishing out seven assists with six rebounds. Andrae Martin scored 13 points with five rebounds before fouling out while Justin Kress had 11 points and Chris Greene 10 points and seven assists.

Frank Moultrie and Bruce Hall scored a game high 24 points for Kutztown (11-8, 2-2) while David Ben and Ben Arnold had double-doubles with 11 points each and 13 and 12 rebounds respectively.

Mansfield extends in winning steak to four straight and improves to 9-8 overall. Three of those four games have been decided by two or less points or gone into overtime.

Mansfield travels to East Stroudsburg on Wednesday for a battle between the only undefeated teams in PSAC East play.

Newspaper Box Score

Kutztown University vs Mansfield University

01/28/06 3:00 at Decker Gymnasium

At Decker Gymnasium

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY 95, KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY 88

KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY (11-8 (2-2))

MOULTRIE, Frank 10-24 1-2 24; HALL, Bruce 8-19 8-8 24; ARNOLD, Ben 5-9 2-4

12; BEN, David 3-9 5-6 12; SIMS, Dorian 3-10 0-0 8; BRYANT, Maurice 3-6 0-0

6; COLES, Andre 1-4 0-0 2; WOODLIN, Andre 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-82 16-20 88.

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY (9-8 (4-0))

HAMPTON, John 6-9 6-7 19; HOOPES, David 6-12 2-2 18; DESHIELDS, Brandon 6-13

2-5 17; MARTIN, Andrae 6-9 1-1 13; KRESS, Justin 5-7 1-3 11; GREENE, Chris

4-8 1-2 10; COLLAZO, Carlos 2-9 0-0 4; MORTIMER, Denny 1-4 1-2 3; HILL,

Kevin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 36-73 14-22 95.

Kutztown University...........   37   46    5  -   88

Mansfield University..........   44   39   12  -   95

3-point goals-Kutztown University 6-25 (MOULTRIE, Frank 3-11; SIMS, Dorian

2-6; BEN, David 1-4; BRYANT, Maurice 0-1; HALL, Bruce 0-3), Mansfield

University 9-23 (HOOPES, David 4-9; DESHIELDS, Brandon 3-8; GREENE, Chris

1-3; HAMPTON, John 1-1; HILL, Kevin 0-1; MARTIN, Andrae 0-1). Fouled

out--Kutztown University-MOULTRIE, Frank; ARNOLD, Ben, Mansfield

University-MARTIN, Andrae. Rebounds-Kutztown University 49 (BEN, David 13),

Mansfield University 42 (DESHIELDS, Brandon 6). Assists-Kutztown University

15 (BRYANT, Maurice 5; HALL, Bruce 5), Mansfield University 23 (GREENE,

Chris 7; DESHIELDS, Brandon 7). Total fouls-Kutztown University 21,

Mansfield University 19. A-877