December 18, 2007

Bloomsburg Falls in Men's Basketball


Box Score

BLOOMSBURG- Bloomsburg University placed three players in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the Huskies fell to Shippensburg, 71-64, in men's basketball action Tuesday night at the Nelson Field House.

In the early going Bloomsburg took an 11-4 lead with Niko Traykov (Bulgaria) scoring six points in the first seven minutes of action. The Huskies also forced the Red Raiders into starting out the game just 1-10 from the floor.

Shippensburg slowly battled back and took its first lead since the opening minute of the game when Ryan Kraft hit a three-pointer to make it a 22-20 game with 6:41 left in the half. The lead would then go back and forth three times over the next three minutes before Shippensburg ended the half with a 6-0 run for a 35-30 lead at the break.

Bloomsburg started quickly in the second half going on a 7-0 run with John Allen's (Hatfield/North Penn) layup with 18:48 to go in the game giving the Huskies a 37-35 lead. The Huskies would later stretch that margin to 49-44 on Marko Vucajnk's (Slovenia) jumper with 11:12 to play. But, the Red Raiders used a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to go back on top, 54-49, with 7:58 to play.

The Huskies would rally once more and when Nick Jones (Rosedale, NY/Hillcrest) hit a jumper with 5:31 to play, Bloomsburg would lead 57-56. It would be the Huskies last lead of the game.

Back-to-back buckets by Shippensburg's Alex Jones would put the visitors back on top, 60-57, with 4:48 to play. Later, Allen's layup would get Bloomsburg back to within one at 62-61 with 2:30 to play.

An Alex Jones layup with 57 seconds to play gave the Red Raiders a 67-61 lead before Drew Jerry (Philadelphia/Olney) nailed a three-pointer with 34 seconds to get the game to a one possession contest. Bloomsburg, though, could not take advantage of misses from the foul line by Shippensburg in the final 20 seconds and ended up falling by seven.

Bloomsburg, 5-4, got 16 points from Traykov, 14 from Nick Jones and 11 from John Allen. Shippensburg, 5-5, was led by Derrick Graff with 16 points, while Alex Jones finished with 15 points and Ryan Kraft 12.