Bloomsburg Drops Heartbreaker to Mansfield

BLOOMSBURG - Bloomsburg University men's basketball lost another heartbreaker on Wednesday falling to Mansfield 91-90 at the Nelson Field House in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division game.

It is the second Wednesday in a row that the Huskies have dropped a one-point game at home.

Bloomsburg, 4-15, 0-4 PSAC East, was fire from the start in the game hitting 55 percent from the floor in opening half with Billy Bryan (Denver/Reading Holy Name) netting 15 and Marion Rose (Philadelphia/Mastbaum) 14 in the opening 20 minutes. Despite the hot shooting, the Huskies trailed by four points in a half that featured five ties and seven lead changes.

In the second half, the teams went back and forth with neither team grabbing a lead of more than four points. Then, with less than four minutes to play, Mansfield, 8-10, 3-0 PSAC East, used a mini run to go in front by seven, 87-80, with 3:30 to play.

However, the Huskies would fight back with a pair of free throws from Matt Jefferson (Philadelphia/Engineering and Science) and a jumper from the baseline by Seve Cunningham (Wrightsville/Eastern York) to make it an 87-84 game with 2:36 to go.

After Mansfield made it 89-84 on a basket by Justin Kress with 2:22 to go, Jefferson again hit two free throws, then later, a jumper to bring the Huskies within one at 89-88. After Brandon DeShields was fouled and hit both ends of the one and one for a 91-88 lead with 23 ticks to go, the Huskies Mike Cheatle (North Wales/Hatboro-Horsham) tried a three-pointer with nine seconds to play that was off the mark. Jefferson was there, though, to rebound and score to make it a one point game with six seconds left.

Mansfield's John Hampton was then fouled, but missed the front end of the one and one. After a scramble for the loose ball the Huskies tried a desperation three-pointer, but it was off its mark.

Jefferson and Bryan finished with 23 points each for Bloomsburg, while Cunningham had a career-high 21 points and Rose 17 to go along with six assists and six rebounds.

Mansfield was led by Carlos Collazo with 19 points, while Andrae Martin added 16.

Bloomsburg is idle till Feb. 1st when it visits West Chester at 8 p.m.