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CHEYNEY—Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) scored a game-high 24 points to lead five players in double figures as the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team beat Cheyney University, 97-87, on Wednesday night in the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) opener for both teams.
 
The Huskies led from start to finish racing out to an early 16-5 in the first five and half minutes of play. Haigler was red-hot in the early going scoring 11 of Bloomsburg's first 16 points and hitting two 3-pointers.
 
Bloomsburg (3-0, 1-0 PSAC East) continued to build upon its lead stretching it to as many as 21 points on Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton)'s 3-pointer making it 35-21 with 8:37 to play in the half. Cheyney closed out the half on a 23-15 run to narrow the gap to 50-37 at halftime.
 
The Huskies maintained its double digit lead for the first seven minutes of the second half before the Wolves pulled to within six points, 60-54, on a 3-pointer from
Rasahn Brinkley with 11:52 to play. Bloomsburg would push the lead back to 15 points using a 15-6 run with Mortellite getting six points and Haigler five.
 
The Wolves rallied once more putting a 19-8 run over a five-minute stretch and closed to within 83-79 with 2:58 to play. Bloomsburg though was solid from the free throw line in the final minutes hitting 10 of 11 shots from the charity stripe to seal the victory.
 
Along with Haigler scoring 24 points, Alssene Saintlius and Mortellite each added 18 points, while Jon Riles (Philadelphia/Academy of the New Church) scored 12 points and Ashkan Naderi (Herndon, VA/Herndon) chipping in 11.
 
As a team the Huskies hit 56.6 percent from the floor for the game (30-53); 64.7 percent from beyond the arc (11-17) and 89.7 percent from the free throw line (26-29). Bloomsburg also out-rebounded the Wolves 33-26.
 
Jerrod Johnson and Brinkley each scored a team-high 19 points for Cheyney (1-2, 0-1 PSAC East).
 
Bloomsburg will host Shippensburg on Saturday at 3 p.m.