Washington, Bower hit career highs, KU moving on to region final

Ryan Washington (so. Philadelphia/Wissahickon) stepped up big for the Kutztown University men's basketball team, scoring a career-high 28 points in a 92-86 win over Indiana (Pa.) in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region semifinals Sunday at Hammermill Center.

Washington shot 12-of-14 from the floor for the Golden Bears (28-4), who shot 53.7 percent for the game, including a 54.5 percent clip from 3-point range.

Mark Bower (sr. West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) also scored a career-high 16 points, as KU had five players in double figures.

For Washington, the career-high came against his old team and helped out his teammates Stephen Dennis (jr. West Chester/Henderson) and Dave Ben (sr. Coatesville/Coatesville). KU's two leading scorers managed a combined one point after halftime.

"It's big for me to step up," Washington said. "I'm not the leading scorer on this team, so it's big to step up."

He picked the biggest of games to do so, advancing KU into its first regional final in school history. The Golden Bears have already won more games overall and in the postseason than any other team in school history.

Dennis finished with 13 points and Ben scored nine, falling just one short of 2,000 for his career.
Julius Gray (so. Lincoln/Oxford) had his second straight double-digit game, posting 11 points. He had one of KU's six 3-pointers.

The Golden Bears started the game off hitting all six of its 3-point attempts, opening up the paint for Washington and Bower to work.

KU never trailed in the game, building a 15-point lead at 31-16 with 8:40 left in the first half. The Golden Bears hot shooting forced Indiana to use all but one of its allotted timeouts in the half.

Driscoll, who is 2-0 in the NCAA tournament, took his Golden Bears into the locker room with a 50-39 lead, but an injury to Dennis limited his play in the second half. Dennis is expected to be ready to go for Tuesday's final.

Indiana cut into the lead and made it a four-point game at 65-61 with 9:53 left, but a 12-5 run led by eight points from Washington made it 77-66, sealing it for KU.