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BLOOMSBURG – The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team clinched a berth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) playoffs with an 85-80 overtime win over Kutztown University on Saturday afternoon in an Eastern Division game at Nelson Field House.
 
The Huskies (8-17, 6-15 PSAC) were led by a career-high 34 points by Lorenzo Christmas (Norristown/Norristown). Christmas scored 25 of his points in the second half and overtime and scored the last five points of the game for the Huskies. With one game remaining in the regular season, the Huskies still have a chance to host an opening round game.
 
“It feels good because of all the adversity we have gone through all year,” head coach John Sanow said of Bloomsburg clinching a spot in the playoffs. “To win a really good game today in overtime to get into the playoffs feels good for our team.”
 
“I thought Lorenzo really came to play today,” Sanow said. “It seemed that he really wanted to give effort, really wanted to compete, and he worked very hard for us today. He also did some other great things besides just scoring the ball with some big offensive rebounds that helped us down the stretch.”
 
After giving up a pair of baskets, Bloomsburg went on a 11-2 run in the first few minutes of play to take the early 11-6 lead. Wes Lyons (Millville/Millville) started the run with a jumper and capped it with a three pointer off an assist by Andrew Morgan (New Brunswick, NJ/St. Joseph's).
 
With 13:41 to play in the first half, Kutztown's Micah Fraction hit a three pointer to give the Golden Bears the lead, which they would hold onto for nearly 10 minutes.
 
With four minutes to play in the half, Christmas hit a three-pointer to give Bloomsburg a 29-27 lead. Entering the half, the Huskies trailed Kutztown 33-30.
 
“I thought we played more aggressive and with more confidence in the second half,” Sanow said. “I thought we made some really smart basketball plays in the second half.”
 
The Golden Bears went on a brief run to open the second half, but the Huskies responded with an 8-1 run that featured a pair of threes by Christmas and Daniel Kusnyer (Wexford/Hillsborough CC) to tie the game at 42 with 13:58 remaining in the half.
 
At the 8:13 mark, Christmas completed an and-one to give Bloomsburg its first lead of the second half at 53-52.
 
After a few minutes of back-and-forth scoring, the teams would end regulation with the score tied at 66. Entering the game, Bloomsburg had been 4-1 in overtime games on the season.
 
Lyons hit a three-pointer just nine seconds into the extra period to give the Huskies the lead. Just over two minutes later, Armand Leaks (Philadelphia/The Shipley School) hit a free throw to cap off a three-point play and give Bloomsburg its biggest lead of the game, 75-68.
 
With 36 seconds to play, Kutztown's Kenny Battle committed his fifth foul, leaving the Golden Bears with just five players. 18 seconds later, Harrison Johnson fouled out forcing Kutztown to play 5-on-4. With seven seconds remaining, Fraction fouled out and the Golden Bears played the final possession of the game 5-on-3.
 
Christmas finished the day with a double-double, scoring 34 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while going 15-of-18 from the foul line. Lyons also had a double-double with 17 points and 11 boards as well as two blocked shots.
 
“You can see the confidence building in him, and now he is really starting to put some things together,” Sanow said of Lyons' play as of late. “He's slowing his game down, he's making smarter decisions, and he's shooting the ball better.”
 
Kusnyer scored 11 points for Bloomsburg and hit three shots from beyond-the-arc, and Moustapha Noumbissi (Upper Darby/Delaware County Christian School) finished with eight points, five rebounds and a career-high four blocked shots.
 
Morgan ended the game with six points and six assists for the Huskies. Before the game, the team celebrated senior day by honoring Kusnyer, Nnamdi Njoku (Westampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) and team manager Jennifer Shacreaw.
 
The Huskies play their final game of the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at East Stroudsburg, with tipoff set for 8 p.m. The first round of PSAC tournament play will begin Saturday, March 2, with matchups to be determined.
 
“We have nothing to lose, and we just want to come out and play hard,” Sanow commented about Wednesday's upcoming game against East Stroudsburg. “We want to be aggressive all night, we want to play with confidence, and lets build on this game and maybe get that win.”