Box Score HTML Boxscore
 
BLOOMSBURG – Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) made two free throws and Nasir Jones (Philadelphia/Franklin Learning Center) blocked a potential game-tying layup in the final seconds to lift the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team to a 66-64 victory over Clarion University Saturday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover action at Nelson Field House.
 
With the game tied at 61 with 1:28 to play, Bloomsburg junior guard Lorenzo Christmas (Norristown/Norristown) saw an open lane, attacked the basket, and converted an and-one play with a left-handed layup to give Bloomsburg a three-point advantage. 
 
“I saw my defender go through and had a wide open lane ahead of me,” Christmas said.  “I took the ball to the rim and right at the defender underneath and was able to get the shot to go in.”
 
Clarion's Calvin Edwards answered with his fourth three-pointer of the night to tie the game with 40 seconds to play.  Haigler was fouled driving to the basket the following possession and made both free throws to give Bloomsburg the two-point lead with 11 seconds to play.  Jones then blocked Aaron Johnson's layup with two seconds left to secure Bloomsburg's second win in a row.
 
Haigler led the team with 17 points, seven of which came at the free throw line.  He also dished out a game-high five assists in 37 minutes on the floor.
 
Christmas scored 13 points and was one rebound away from recording his first career double-double.  His nine rebounds tied a previous career-high for the junior.  He made two three-pointers on the night to extend his streak to 23 consecutive games with a triple.
 
“I tried to let the game come to me tonight and not force anything,” Christmas said.  “We have a lot of threats on the offensive end and we did a good job of letting the offense run.”
 
Senior Nnamdi Njoku (Westampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) and sophomore Zach Sheetz (Landisville/Hempfield) rounded out the quartet of Huskies to finish in double figures in scoring.  Both players scored 10 points as Bloomsburg's bench out-scored Clarion's, 21-5.
 
As a team, Bloomsburg (4-9, 2-7 PSAC) shot 44.2 percent from the field and held Clarion (4-9, 2-7) to 30 percent shooting in the second half.  BU out-rebounded CU, 33-30, and shot 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) from beyond the arc, its highest three-point percentage of the season.
 
The first 15 minutes of play never grew to more than a one-score game, but Bloomsburg put together some tough defensive possessions to hold its largest lead of the game at six, 25-19, with 3:33 left in the first half.  However, an Edwards three as the buzzer sounded capped an 8-0 run to give Clarion a 32-30 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
The run stretched out to 13-0 in the second half as Clarion held its largest lead of the game at seven at 40-33 less than two minutes into play.
 
Bloomsburg responded with a 9-1 run over five minutes as a Christmas three-pointer gave Bloomsburg its first lead of the second half, 42-41, at the 13:08 mark.  The teams traded baskets for nearly the remainder of the game leading up to Christmas' and-one with 1:09 to play.
 
“It gives our team a lot of confidence to be able to win at home,” Christmas said.  “We are humble, but we know we have to keep working hard to get better and to keep this winning streak alive.”
 
The Golden Eagles were led by Edwards' 18 points and eight rebounds.  Mike Kromka notched a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, but fouled out on the Christmas three-point play in the final minutes.  Kromka was 9-for-13 at the free throw line.
 
Bloomsburg returns to play and begins Eastern Division action on Wednesday, Jan. 16 as it hosts Shippensburg University at Nelson Field House with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.