BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Senior Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) scored 20 points to lead four Huskies in double figures on Friday night as the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team opened the 2015-16 regular season with a convincing 78-48 victory over Penn State Hazleton at Nelson Field House. The Nittany Lions dropped to 0-3 overall on the young season.
 
It marked the first time since November 19, 2011 – an 82-50 victory against Lock Haven - that Bloomsburg won a game by as many as 30 points.
 
The Huskies built a 39-26 lead at halftime thanks to Haigler's 15 first-half points. Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) and redshirt senior Wes Lyons (Millville/Millville) added six points apiece, off the bench, in the opening twenty minutes.
 
Bloomsburg led 10-8 with 13:49 left in the first half before going on a 17-4 run over the next five minutes to extend the lead to 27-12. Haigler and Lyons had six points apiece during the spurt. The Nittany Lions scored the next five points to cut the lead to ten with 4:02 left. But, that would be as close as the visitors would get the rest of the way.
 
The hosts got their lead to 20 points with 14:50 left in the second half and then ballooned the lead to as many as 31 points with 5:19 remaining before settling for the final margin of victory.
 
Haigler finished the night shooting 7-of-11 from the field, made his only three-point attempt, and was 5-of-7 from the charity stripe for his 20 points. He added four rebounds (all offensive), three assists, and three steals in his all-around performance.
 
Lyons scored 14 points, on 6-of-8 shooting and 2-of-2 at the foul line, while playing in only 15 minutes off the bench. Mortellite played only eight minutes and scored 11 points with three of his four field goals coming from three-point range. Sophomore Alex Prislupsky (Olyphant/Mid-Valley) was the other Husky in double figures, finishing the night with 10 points in 12 minutes.
 
Sophomore Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, DE/Sanford School), playing in his first game in a Bloomsburg uniform, finished with six points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Royce Brathwaite led Penn State Hazleton with a game-high 23 points, knocking down eight of his ten field goal attempts and four of his five three-point tries. He also had four rebounds and four assists but turned the ball over eight times in the loss. Jordan Singletary had a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with six points.
 
Bloomsburg forced 29 turnovers on Friday night, accumulating 18 steals with a game-high four by redshirt freshman Tyriek Steward (Wilkes-Barre/Elmer Meyers). The Huskies, meanwhile, turned it over just eight times and recorded 20 assists. Senior Ashkan Naderi (Herndon, VA/Herndon) had a game-high five dimes.
 
The Huskies will play their first road contest of the season on Saturday when they travel to Felician University. Tip-off is slated for 6:00 p.m. from Rutherford, New Jersey.