Men's Basketball Downs Briarcliffe College

BLOOMSBURG- The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team ran past the Seahawks of Briarcliffe College 86-66 Saturday afternoon at Nelson Field House.

Adon El (Philadelphia/St. John Newman) finished with a game high 19 points on 9-10 shooting to pace the Huskies, as Bloomsburg finished with six players in double figures. Niko Traykov (Bulgaria/ Lebanon, Pa) and Nick Jones (Rosedale, NY/Hillcrest) each added 13 points. Joshua Smith had 21 points and Daniel Napalitano added 16 to lead the Seahawks.

After a slow start by both teams, Bloomsburg got rolling courtesy of an El put back and two Jones lay-ups to take a 9-4 advantage with 15:49 left in the first period. From there, the Huskies would extend their lead to 30-15 with 7:45 left in the first half, thanks to a Jason Green (Washington, DC/DeMatha) three and another El put back.

Bloomsburg would extend their lead to 22 after Green buried his third three-pointer of the first half, giving the Huskies to a 39-17 lead with 6:12 remaining in the first. Green was 4-5 on three pointers on the afternoon. The Seahawks would cut that lead down to thirteen as the Huskies possessed a 43-30 advantage at intermission.

In the second half, Bloomsburg would go on a 13-6 run over the first seven minutes of the period to extend their lead to 56-36 with 13:30 remaining. Bloomsburg used a big three from Traykov and a pair of Jones baskets to ignite the run.

Briarcliffe would cut the lead down to 15 with 9:34 left to play following a Nikkita Davis putback, but that was as close as they would come. Traykov knocked down his third three-pointer of the afternoon, and followed that with a two handed dunk on the next possession to push the Huskies lead back to 20 with 8:33 left in the game. El and Buddy Rose (Philadelphia/Mastbaum Tech) combined for eight points down the stretch to ice the game for the Huskies.

The Huskies shot 54.8 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Seahawks 37-32.

The Huskies return to action on Thursday when they host PSU-Hazleton. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.