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WEST CHESTER, Pa. – A furious comeback effort by the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team came up short in the final minutes as the Huskies fell, 99-89, in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) quarterfinals at West Chester's Hollinger Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.

The loss ends Bloomsburg's season at 16-12 while West Chester improves to 19-8 and advances into this weekend's PSAC Final Four.

The Huskies led in the very early going, grabbing a six-point lead at 9-3 at the 16:57 mark. West Chester took command, though, using a 22-4 run to race out to an 18-point advantage with 7:39 to play in the first half. Bloomsburg closed to within 12 on foul shots from Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) with 3:18 left in the period, but West Chester ultimately went to the locker room with a 51-34 lead.

With West Chester up 54-36 early in the second half, Bloomsburg started to chip away. The Huskies first cut their deficit to single digits at 58-49 on a layup from Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) with 15:11 remaining. The two teams remained separated between 8-12 points over the next eight minutes, but it appeared as though the Golden Rams had control when they went ahead 88-75 with 3:58 left on a layup from Troy Hockaday.

Bloomsburg refused to go quietly, however. An 8-0 run by the Huskies put the score at 88-83 after a layup from Saintilus and still 2:44 to go.

Work on the offensive glass by West Chester's Cory Blake proved to be a momentum-changer, though. After a Golden Rams missed jumper, Blake wrestled down an offensive rebound and finished with a put-back for a 90-83 lead. A missed Bloomsburg 3-point attempt and foul sent Shannon Givens to the line and he hit one of two to put the hosts up by eight once more with 1:53 showing on the clock.

Back-to-back 3-pointers – first from Jon Riles (Philadelphia/Academy of the New Church) and then a long trey from Andrew Morgan (New Brunswick, NJ/St. Joseph's) – brought Bloomsburg back within 93-89 with 1:46 to go. Haigler then forced a tie-up and the possession arrow gave the Huskies back the ball. A missed 3-point attempt and defensive rebound by the Golden Rams snuffed out the rally, though, with the Golden Rams icing the game at the foul line over the final 30 seconds.

Saintilus poured in a career-high 23 points in 33 minutes on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and was 9-of-13 at the foul line. Dontahe Jordan (Williamsport/Williamsport) also finished with 23 points and nine rebounds while Haigler and Morgan each added 12 points apiece. The 12 points scored by the senior Morgan were also a career-high. Riles gave the Huskies a fifth player in double-figure scoring by tallying all of his 10 points during the second half.

Bloomsburg fought foul trouble with starters Haigler, Jordan and Lorenzo Christmas (Norristown/Norristown) all fouling out in the final minutes.

Hockaday powered the Golden Rams with 21 points and seven rebounds while R.J. Griffin added 17 points off the bench. Matt Wisely also tallied 15 points.

West Chester will play Gannon at East Stroudsburg on Saturday. Top-seeded ESU will host Mercyhurst in the other semifinal.

GAME NOTES: The Huskies shot 51.4 percent during the second half to fight their way back into the game and finished at 45.9 percent (28-61) for the game … West Chester held a 44-30 edge in rebounding but the teams were equal in second chance points at 15 apiece … Fouls were aplenty with the Huskies finishing 26-37 at the line while WCU went 30-39 … Jordan moved into ninth place all-time in Huskies scoring with 1,376 career points … Christmas extended his school record 3-point total with his 237th.