Huskies Down Penn State Hazleton Monday Night

HAZLETON--Matt Jefferson (Philadelphia/George Washington) scored 18 points and Drew Jerry (Philadelphia/Olney) scored 15 and had a career-high 10 rebounds to lead Bloomsburg University to a 70-62 win over Penn State-Hazleton Monday night.

The Huskies (8-8) trailed 8-2 in the opening minutes of the game before putting together an 18-4 run to go up by eight, 20-12, with just under 10 minutes to play. Jefferson led the rally for the Huskies with nine points, while Billy Bryan (Denver/Holy Name) added four. After the Lions (4-8) closed the gap back to two points, 24-22, with five minutes to play, Bloomsburg ended the half with a 13-6 run to lead by nine at the break, 37-28.

In the second half, Bloomsburg pushed its lead to 14 (46-32) after a jumper by Jefferson with 16 minutes to play. PSU-Hazleton, though came on the strength of a 15-5 run and cut the deficit to four, 51-47, with nine and a half minutes to play.

The Huskies, though, answered that rally with one their own going on a 14-2 run with Jeremiah Long (New Columbia/Middleburg) capping the rally with a layup to give Bloomsburg its biggest lead of the night, 64-49 with 4:11 to play. PSU-Hazleton did back to within seven points late in the game, but the Huskies hit a couple of free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.

Jefferson finished 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Jerry turned in a solid all around game with 15 points (including three of three from three-point range), 10 rebounds and five assists. In addition, Bryan scored 11 points and Jaren Burdine (Reading/Reading) 10 for the Huskies.

Tramone Clark and Keiser Zamora scored 18 each for the Lions.

Bloomsburg will host East Stroudsburg on Wednesday starting at 7:30 p.m.