Bloomsburg Rally Falls Short in Men's Basketball

BLOOMSBURG—Bloomsburg University nearly rallied from a 10-point deficit, but came up one point short in an 89-88 loss to Mansfield University in men's basketball action Wednesday night.

The team's battled on near even terms in the opening 20 minutes with 10 lead changes and eight ties in the half. Bloomsburg's biggest lead of the half was five, 31-26, with 8:19 left, after a layup from Ryan Nenstiel (Nuremburg/Weatherly). Mansfield rallied and also grabbed a five point lead, 46-41, with 1:37 left to play on a layup from Jason Benson.

Mansfield then opened a seven point lead with 18:29 left on a jumper from Jeremy Frey. The Mounties later extended the margin to nine points, 60-51, on two free throws from Benson with 15:17 to play.

Bloomsburg chipped away at the deficit and closed to within four, 62-58, with the help of a 5-0 run, including a three-point play from John Owens (Philadelphia/Abington Friends).

The Mounties took their biggest lead of the night, 10 points, 74-64, with 10:19 to play on a jumper from Frey. However, the Huskies battled back.

A three-point play from Owens and a jumper from Jaren Burdine (Reading/Reading) closed the gap to five points, 74-69 with 8:39 to play. Later, a three-point play from Ernest Cherry (Babonneau, St. Lucia) made it a two-point game, 76-74, with 5:59 to play. Then with 3:59 to play, the Mounties Terrance Williams hit two free throws to push the lead back to six points. But, another three-point play from Owens with 3:13 left made it an 81-79 game,

With under 30 seconds to play and Bloomsburg trailing by a deuce after a Ryan Nenstiel jumper to make it an 87-85 game. The Huskies then fouled Brandon DeShields from Mansfield. DeShields missed both giving the Huskies the ball with a chance to tie or go-ahead. But, Owens lost his footing on a drive to the basket and turned the ball over with nine seconds to play. After Benson hit two free throws with six seconds left for a four point margin, the Huskies' Andrew Jerry (Philadelphia/Olney) hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to make the final 89-88.

Ryan Nenstiel topped the Huskies, now 6-19, 2-8 in the PSAC East, with 19 points, while Owens netted 17 and Bob Nenstiel (Nuremburg/Weatherly) and Ernest Cherry 10 points each.

Mansfield, 14-10, 7-2 in the PSAC East, got 25 points from Jason Benson,17 points from DeShields and 11 points each from Carlos Collazo and Justin Kress. Jeremy Frey chipped in with 10.

The Huskies are idle till next Wednesday when they visit West Chester at 8 p.m.