BLOOMSBURG - The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team will host Lock Haven at Nelson Field House on Saturday afternoon in a crucial PSAC East matchup. The Huskies and Bald Eagles enter Saturday's game both at 6-3 in the Eastern Division standings in a three-way logjam for second place along with West Chester.
SCOUTING LOCK HAVEN
Lock Haven enters Saturday on a hot streak, winning five straight games to move to 13-6 on the season and 6-3 in the PSAC East. During the winning streak, LHU has scored wins over Mansfield (85-78), Kutztown (62-58), Millersville (76-71), Cheyney (75-67 and Shippensburg (72-68).
It has been quite the turnaround for the Bald Eagles under head coach Mike Nestor. Lock Haven went 0-25 during Nestor's first season in 2011-12, then improved to 6-19 last year. The 13 wins are the most for LHU since going 13-13 in 1995-96 with the Bald Eagles' last winning season coming with a 14-12 campaign in 1992-93.
The Bald Eagles rank sixth in the conference in scoring (75.3 ppg) and 10th in points allowed (70.2 ppg).
Lock Haven is middle of the road in terms of PSAC rankings in both field goal percentage (44.3 percent, seventh) and 3-point percentage (33.5 percent, ninth) but has been strong at stopping the three - LHU stands third in the PSAC in 3-point field goal defense, allowing opponents to shoot only 29.6 percent from beyond the arc.
THE BLOOMSBURG-LOCK HAVEN SERIES
Bloomsburg leads 96-34
The Huskies have dominated the long series vs. Lock Haven, owning a 96-34 advantage in the 130 meetings between the two schools in men's basketball. In the first meeting of the year, the Huskies won 62-57 on the road back on Nov. 23. Jordan powered the Huskies with 18 points while
Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) scored 12 of his 16 points during the second half. His layup with 3:40 to play gave the Huskies a lead they never relinquished as part of an 8-0 run in the final minutes. Last year, Bloomsburg won the only meeting of the season in a crossover match, 106-98 in double overtime at Nelson Fieldhouse on Jan. 11, 2013. Bloomsburg stretched an 82-50 victory on Jan. 19, 2011 at Nelson to begin the current win streak vs. the Bald Eagles. LHU's last win in the series came at home, 54-51, on Dec. 4, 2010.
TWEETABLES (Huskies facts in 140 characters or less)
-The Huskies have made at least one 3-pointer in 93 straight games.
-The last time BU did not hit a 3 in a game was on Dec. 4, 2010 - the last time LHU beat the Huskies.
-Despite playing in only 12 games,
Dontahe Jordan (Williamsport/Williamsport) leads the team with 96 total rebounds.
-Jordan's 14 rebounds at Millersville are the most by any Husky this year.
-The 23 points scored by
Lorenzo Christmas (Norristown/Norristown) at Millersville are the most by any BU player in PSAC East play this year.
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Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) is shooting 59.5 percent from the floor in PSAC East games.
