Bloomsburg Tops IUP in Overtime; Win Fifth Straight

BLOOMSBURG- The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team edged IUP, 70-67 in overtime in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover game on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Huskies to 5-0 on the season. It is the best start for Bloomsburg since the 1988-89 season when they started the season 6-0.

With IUP leading 65-64 with 1:07 remaining in overtime, Jaren Burdine (Reading/ Reading) drained a three-pointer to give the Huskies a 67-65 lead. Jon DeJesus (East Stroudsburg/ Lackawanna CC) then converted two free throws on their next possession to take a 69-65 lead.

However, IUP was able to cut the lead to two with 12 seconds remaining on a Dave Mazza lay-up. After Billy Bryan (Denver/ Holy Name) added another free throw to make it 70-67, IUP had one last chance to tie the game. However, the Bloomsburg defense forced a bad pass and Ernest Cherry (Babonneau, St. Lucia /St. Mary's) came up with the steal to end the game.

At the end of the second half, the Huskies looked to have the game in hand after Buddy Rose (Philadelphia/ Mastbaum Tech) converted two free throws with just ten seconds left to give Bloomsburg a 60-57 lead. However, IUP's Angelo Jones hit a three-pointer with just eight seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Matt Jefferson (Philadelphia/ George Washington) led the Huskies with 12 points and six rebounds, while Billy Bryan netted 11 points and Burdine added ten points. Mazza scored a game-high 14 points to lead IUP.

Bloomsburg will host Clarion tomorrow at 3 p.m.