BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team led for much of the night on Tuesday, but could not put away visiting Wilmington University as the Wildcats stormed back in the second half to edge the Huskies, 81-78, at Nelson Field House. The loss dropped Bloomsburg to 3-2 overall on the season while Wilmington improved to 4-1.
 
The game was closely contested throughout as the score was tied eight times and the lead changed hands on twelve different occasions. Bloomsburg led for more than 30 minutes, including a seven-point advantage, 72-65, with 4:36 left in regulation after senior Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) knocked down a pair of free throws. But, the usually clutch free-throw shooting Huskies went just 3-for-8 at the line down the stretch as the Wildcats began to chip away.
 
A layup by Omari Dill-Pettiford and a triple from Brian Adkins cut the Bloomsburg lead to 72-70 with 3:49 left. Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) split a pair of free throws to put the Huskies back in front by three with 3:31 left. Ta'Vaune Griffin went 1-of-2 at the line and then converted a layup to tie the game at 73-73 with 2:42 remaining in regulation.
 
Redshirt freshman Tyriek Steward (Wilkes-Barre/Elmer Meyers) converted one of two foul shots with 2:25 left to put the Huskies back in front. But, Tyaire Ponzo-Meek hit a layup to put the visitors ahead by a point, 75-74, with 2:15 left. Haigler hit 1-of-2 at the line to tie the game at 75-75 with 1:30 left. Ponzo-Meek put the visitors ahead by two, but Mortellite's triple put the Huskies back in front, 78-77, with 48 seconds remaining. Ponzo-Meek, however, scored the final four points, in the last 22 seconds of the contest, to stun the Huskies.
 
Bloomsburg held a four-point lead, 39-35, at halftime as Mortellite had a dozen in the opening twenty minutes. The redshirt sophomore would score 14 more points in the second half to finish with a game-high 26, but was slightly off with his touch on Tuesday, shooting just 9-of-25 from the field and 3-of-9 from three-point range. He was also 5-of-6 from the foul line.
 
Steward was the only other Husky in double figures. He finished with 11 on 2-of-5 from the field and 7-of-8 from the foul line.
 
Sophomore Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, DE/Sanford School) filled the box score on Tuesday night, racking up a number of career-highs. He finished with a six points, ten rebounds, six blocked shots, and three assists – all of which broke or tied career bests. He became the first Bloomsburg player to block at least five shots in a game since Moustapha Noumbissi (Upper Darby/Delaware County Christian School) swatted six shots against Penn State Hazleton on November 14, 2014.
 
Ponzo-Meek led the Wildcats with 24 points, including the last eight Wilmington points. Griffin had 22 points and a game-high 16 rebounds while Adkins had 18 points.
 
Rebounding proved costly for the Huskies as they were outdistanced by a 50-36 margin. Wilmington had 21 offensive rebounds which led to 26 second-chance points. Bloomsburg had 11 offensive rebounds which only ptoduced eight second-chance points.
 
Bloomsburg will look to get back in the win column on Saturday, November 28, when it travels to Lincoln University. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.