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BLOOMSBURG – After trailing by 17 at halftime, the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team fought back in the second half to defeat Millersville University, 100-94 in triple overtime Wednesday night at Nelson Field House in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division action.
 
The Huskies (6-14, 4-12) didn't lead against the Marauders (15-7, 11-5) until the second overtime period.  They had significant contributions from numerous players down the stretch while shooting 15-for-18 at the free throw line during the overtime periods.
 
Junior forward Dontahe Jordan (Williamsport/Williamsport) scored a career-high 29 points including a 13-for-16 performance at the free throw line for the Huskies.  In 46 minutes on the floor, Jordan grabbed nine rebounds and a career-high five steals.
 
Lorenzo Christmas (Norristown/Norristown) and Zach Sheetz (Landisville/Hempfield) played vital roles in the victory and came up clutch in crucial moments late in the game.  Christmas hit the game-tying three-pointer to send the game into a second overtime and finished with 19 points and a career-high seven assists in 50 minutes played.
 
Sheetz shot 9-of-9 at the free throw line for the second time this season on his way to an 18-point night to go along with a career-high seven rebounds.  All nine of his free throws came in the second half and overtime periods.
 
Bloomsburg opened the second half on a 12-2 run to bring the game within striking distance to trail Millersville 45-38 with 16:28 to play.  Still trailing by seven with 3:39 to play, the Huskies ended the half on a 9-2 run with six points coming from Moustapha Noumbissi (Upper Darby/Delaware County Christian School). 
 
“At halftime I asked our guys how we were going to respond in the second half,” head coach John Sanow said.  “We needed to show some heart, some pride, and continue to battle to get back in the game.  I thought our guys showed great character to be able to do that and this was a great win for our team.”
 
Noumbissi was aggressive at the rim all night and made the most of his opportunities.  He brought the game to four with 2:19 to play on a tip-in, slammed home a dunk to get the Huskies within two with 1:25 to play, and made a layup while getting fouled off a Bloomsburg steal to tie the game at 68 with 23 seconds to play. Noumbissi missed the free throw and Bloomsburg stopped Millersville's layup attempt to take Bloomsburg to its fifth overtime game of the season.
 
The Huskies found themselves down by five in the opening 1:27 of overtime.  They quickly responded and tied the game at 75 with one minute to play off a Jordan and-one.  Millersville took a three-point advantage twice in the final minute including one with nine seconds to play after Brandon Brown split a pair of free throws.  With no timeouts remaining, Jordan drove the length of the floor and found Christmas outside the arc.  Christmas used an effective Noumbissi screen to get a clear look from three-point range from straight away and make the game-tying three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 80.
 
Noumbissi finished with a career-high 12 points of 6-for-7 shooting from the field/  He also grabbed five rebounds and had two blocks in 26 minutes off the bench.
 
“Moustapha was a key in our victory tonight,” Sanow said.  “His aggressiveness was a spark for us off the bench.  He seemed to be on a mission tonight and was a major presence on the defensive end.  He was aggressive offensively and continuously worked for offensive rebounds and really had a breakout game in a Husky uniform.”
 
Bloomsburg took its first lead of the game on its first possession of the second overtime on a tip-in from Andrew Morgan (New Brunswick, NJ/St. Joseph's).  Millersville scored five unanswered as part of a 7-1 run to take a four-point lead at 87-83 with 56 seconds to play.  Brown fouled out of the game on a Bloomsburg inbound pass, which led to two Jordan free throws. 
 
On the ensuing inbounds play, Bloomsburg's Nasir Jones (Philadelphia/Franklin Learning Center) checked into the game after playing just eight minutes and tipped a pass while trapping Millersville's Nate Bollinger, who also just subbed into the game having played just four minutes in the second half.  Sheetz made both free throws coming out of a timeout to tie the game at 87 with 30 seconds to play, and Larry Grant missed a wild layup attempt in the final seconds as Bloomsburg's defense hung on to go to a third overtime.
 
Jordan scored nine of Bloomsburg's 13 points in the overtime including a three-pointer to give the Huskies a 90-89 lead with 3:11 to play. He also made the final four free throws of the game to keep the lead to two possessions and ice the game for the Huskies.
 
Bloomsburg shot 26-for-36 (72.2 percent) at the free throw line and 40.8 percent from the field.  It made a season-high 12 three-pointers with 11 of the 12 coming from Jordan, Christmas, and Sheetz. The Huskies defense limited Millersville to just four three-pointers for the game and held it to 25 percent shooting from the field in the second half.
 
Millersville's Anthony Coleman was aggressive at the point guard position and continued to get fouled while going to the rim.  He shot 19-for-22 at the free throw line as part of a game-high 33-point performance.  Elijah Obade, who entered the game as the PSAC's leading rebounder and shot blocker, proved his worth Wednesday night with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and five blocks.  Kemar Williams also finished in double figures with 10 points and a team-high six assists.
 
The comeback victory significantly improved Bloomsburg's postseason life with losses by Kutztown and Mansfield.  Wednesday was also the first triple overtime game since it fell at Millersville 108-103 in the 2010-11 season. It has now won five in a row over the Marauders at Nelson Field House.  The Huskies are now 4-1 in overtime games this season.
 
“This was a huge win for us moving forward,” Sanow said.  “To start the second half of our conference season with a big win at home is great.  We hope this can give us some momentum heading forward which hopefully results in many more wins for us towards the end of the season.”
 
The Huskies look to build momentum and defend their home court on Saturday, Feb. 9 against Cheyney University (9-11, 7-9) at Nelson Field House beginning at 3 p.m.