Bloomsburg Men's Basketball Falls in Overtime to Mansfield

MANSFIELD - For the second time in three days, the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team dropped an overtime contest by a score of 85-82. Despite a game-high 29 points from Matt Jefferson (Philadelphia/George Washington), the Huskies fell to Mansfield on Wednesday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) match-up.

The Mountaineers jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before Bloomsburg tied it at 8-8 on a jumper by Niko Traykov (Bulgaria/St. Francis, NY) with 13:35 to play in the first half. A minute and a half later, a lay-up by Jefferson gave the Huskies their first lead of the game at 10-9.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Mansfield outscored Bloomsburg 20-10 over the next ten minutes to take a 29-19 lead with three minutes to play. A field goal from Nick Jones (Rosedale, NY/St. Francis, NY) cut the Mountaineer lead to four with seven seconds to play but Brandon Lawley's lay-up at the buzzer put Mansfield in front 34-28 at the half.

Bloomsburg opened up the second half with a 17-5 run to take a six-point lead (45-39) at the 15-minute mark. The Mountaineers, though, rallied to take the lead with 12 minutes to play on a Lawley lay-up that brought the score to 50-49. Mansfield held on to a 68-64 lead with four minutes to play but Andrew Jerry (Philadelphia/Olney) hit a three-pointer, forced a turnover and assisted on a lay-up from Jaren Burdine (Reading/Reading) to give Bloomsburg a 69-68 lead at the three-minute mark.

With 58 seconds to play, the Huskies had a 73-70 lead, but three Mountaineer foul shots tied it at 73-73 with just nine seconds left. A last-second scoring attempt by the Huskies failed and the game was sent into overtime.

Mansfield controlled the extra period with Terrance Williams scoring six of the team's 12 points. Bloomsburg had a chance, with Burdine hitting a three-pointer with 19 seconds to play that narrowed the Mountaineer lead to one-point, but two free throws from John Hampton sealed the 85-82 Mansfield victory.

All five Mountaineer (7-13, 3-3 PSAC East) starters finished in double-digits in scoring. Hampton led with 25 points, while Lawley finished with a double-double (19 points, 10 boards). Williams and Kevin Hill each finished with 14 points and Chris Greene added 10.

Bloomsburg's (9-11, 1-5 PSAC East) Jefferson led all players with 29 points and 12 rebounds. Burdine added 16 points and Jerry finished with 14 to round out the Bloomsburg offense.

The Huskies will next play at Cheyney on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.