Bloomsburg Gets Win Over Slippery Rock in Men's Basketball

SLIPPERY ROCK—Billy Bryan (Denver/Holy Name) scored a career and game-high 27 points to lead Bloomsburg University past Slippery Rock, 78-70, in men's college basketball action Wednesday night.

The Huskies held the early edge in the game at 9-4 after a three-pointer by Mike Cheatle (North Wales/Hatboro-Horsham), then later pushed that lead to 13 after a three-pointer from Bryan with 1:37 left in the first half.

In the second half of play the home team chipped away at the Huskies lead and eventually went in front, 68-66, when Erroll Robinson scored inside with 3:56 to play in the game.

However, the Huskies stayed composed and got free throws from Ernest Cherry (St. Lucia) and Matt Jefferson (Philadelphia/Engineering and Science) to tie the game at 68-all with 2:23 to play. Then later, with the game tied at 70-70, Bloomsburg closed out the game with an 8-0 run.

Cherry and Marion Rose (Philadelphia/Mastbaum) hit buckets about 20 seconds apart to put Bloomsburg in front 74-70 with 52 seconds remaining, then got two free throws each from Jefferson and Bryan to seal the victory.

Byran scored 27 points to lead Bloomsburg (3-8), while Cherry added 15 points and 11 rebounds with Jefferson and Cheatle each netting 11.

Dejan Janic and Matt Hale each scored 17 points for the Rock (1-8).

Bloomsburg hosts California on Jan. 7th, 2006 at 3 p.m.