Box Score Box Score (HTML)

MANSFIELD, Pa. – Needing a victory to secure its bid for a home playoff game in the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament, the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team roared back from 16 points down with 12 minutes to play to stun Mansfield, 89-80, Saturday afternoon at Decker Gymnasium.
 
With the win the Huskies improve to 15-10 overall and 10-5 in the PSAC East. Bloomsburg secured the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Division and will host a first round playoff game at Nelson Field House on March 1.
 
Jon Riles (Philadelphia/Academy of the New Church) posted a spectacular performance, pouring in a career-high 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Dontahe Jordan (Williamsport/Williamsport) recorded a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. All of the Huskies starters finished with double-figure scoring – Lorenzo Christmas (Norristown/Norristown) had 15 points; Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) added 13 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) registered 11 points.
 
Mansfield (8-18, 6-10) controlled most of the game, leading for over 32 minutes on the day. Mansfield led by double digits during the first half, opening the game on a 13-3 run and led by as many as 14 points, moving ahead 28-14 with 7:03 left in the period before the Huskies chipped away to a 40-31 score at halftime.
 
Bloomsburg came out of intermission strong, closing to 40-35 in the first minute of the second half and cut the Mountaineers lead to 49-47 following a layup by Saintilus with 16:00 remaining.
 
With the score at 54-50, the Mountaineers embarked on an 12-0 run to take a 66-50 advantage with 12:02 left to play.
 
From there, the game completely turned in the Huskies' favor. After a layup from Moustapha Noumbissi (Upper Darby/Delaware County Christian School) to close within 11 at 68-57, Charles Becoats drained a 3-pointer to put Mansfield up, 71-57. The number 71 would become a frustrating total for the Mountaineers, however, as they would be stuck on that total for the next 8:05.
 
While the Mountaineers went ice cold, the Huskies were scorching. Bloomsburg tallied a 23-0 run to completely turn the tide during Mansfield's cold snap. Haigler started the swing with his running layup for a 71-59 score with 9:28 remaining. Riles then added a traditional 3-point play and the Huskies were rolling. Free throws from Jordan tied the score at 71 with 6:24 on the clock and Zach Sheetz (Landisville/Hempfield) gave the Huskies their first lead since leading 1-0 at the start of the game with two more shots at the charity stripe.
 
Finally with the lead, the Huskies kept pouring it on. A layup and two free throws from Saintilus and a 3-pointer from Riles put the Huskies up 80-71 before the Mountaineers finally ended their drought with a layup from Charles Pemberton.
 
Mansfield got no closer than six points the rest of the way, however, as the Huskies closed out the thrilling win.
 
Becoats posted 21 points for Mansfield and Joe Bell recorded 20 points.
 
Bloomsburg finishes its regular season schedule on Wednesday night vs. Kutztown at 7:30 p.m. inside Nelson Field House. Wednesday is Senior Night as the Huskies honor their six seniors and is also a Gold Rush night with fans asked to wear gold to the game.
 
GAME NOTES: The Huskies shot 46.6 percent (27-for-58) for the game and 54.8 percent during the second half (17-31) … Bloomsburg won the battle of the boards 39-35 … Haigler's 10 rebounds are a career-high ... the Huskies swept the season series from Mansfield and lead the all-time series 101-72.