Men's Basketball | 12/3/2015 3:56:00 PM

BLOOMSBURG (4-3, 2-1 PSAC East) vs MERCYHURST (4-2, 2-2 PSAC West)
Friday, December 4, 2015 - 7:30 p.m.
Bloomsburg, Pa. | Nelson Field House

BLOOMSBURG vs GANNON (2-4, 1-3 PSAC East)
Saturday, December 5, 2015 - 4:00 p.m.
Bloomsburg, Pa. | Nelson Field House

GAME NOTES:
Bloomsburg vs Mercyhurst / Gannon Game Notes

GAME COVERAGE:
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/bloomu/mbball/
Live Audio (WHLM-AM): http://www.whlmam.com

RELATED LINKS:
Bloomsburg - Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Mercyhurst - Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Gannon - Roster | Schedule | Statistics

A LOOK BACK ...
Bloomsburg lost its seventh straight contest against East Stroudsburg on Tuesday night, falling by the final of 91-74 at Nelson Field House. The Huskies still lead the overall series by a 92-68 margin but have not defeated the Warriors since an 80-78 win on February 22, 2012.

VS. EAST STROUDSBURG (12-1) ...
Bloomsburg shot just 24.2% in the first half and fell behind by a 42-30 margin at the break. The Warriors led by as many as 28 points with 7:18 left in regulation before Bloomsburg closed the gap to make the score more respectable. East Stroudsburg nearly led the contest wire-to-wire as the Warriors held a lead for 38:04. The Warriors had five players in double digits. Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) recorded his fifth consecutive 20-point effort, pouring in a game-high 24 points. He went 10-of-20 from the field and 4-of-10 from three-point range. Junior Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy) scored a career-high 16 points and dished out a career-high six assists in the loss. Mortellite and Diggs combined for 40 of the team's 74 points and shot a combined 14-of-25 (56.0%) from the field. The rest of the team was 9-of-41 (21.9%).

THE MERCYHURST SERIES ...
Mercyhurst leads the all-time series against Bloomsburg, 8-1. The Huskies won the first meeting between the two schools on February 13, 1994 by a 98-83 margin at Nelson Field House. Since then, the Lakers have rattled off eight straight wins and are a perfect 4-0 since joining the PSAC in 2008-09.

LAST MEETING AGAINST MERCYHURST ...
Bloomsburg fell behind by nine at halftime but made things interesting down the stretch. In the end, Mercyhurst was able to hold off the Huskies by a 66-62 final at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on December 18, 2013. Mercyhurst shot 53.3% from the field and outrebounded the Huskies by a 33-27 margin. But, Bloomsburg forced Mercyhurst into 20 turnovers and scored 16 points off of those miscues to keep things tight. Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Huskies on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. Lorenzo Christmas and Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) each scored 11 in the loss. Mercyhurst was led by Callon Dailey with 14 points. Paul Bilbo (13) and Jean Onana (10) also scored in double digits for the Lakers.

SCOUTING MERCYHURST ...
Mercyhurst enters Friday night's contest with a 4-2 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division. The Lakers are coming off of a 77-67 loss at home against rival Edinboro University on Tuesday night at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. Five of Mercyhurst's six games thus far have been at home with the only road game occurring on November 24 - a 75-69 win at Daemen. The Lakers enter with the PSAC's top defense, allowing an average of 66.1 points per game. On offense, Mercyhurst averages 74.4 points per game and is led by a pair of seniors, Damon Jones and Sean Beins. Jones leads the way with a 15.7 points per game average while Beins is close behind, averaging 15.0 points per contest. Jones is shooting 52.8% from the field and is 35-43 at the free throw line (81.4%). As a team, the Lakers are third in the PSAC in field goal percentage (49.4%) and rank first in the PSAC in turnover margin at +4.86. Beins leads Mercyhurst in rebounding at 5.3 boards per game while H'ian Hale leads with 20 assists and only 11 turnovers.

THE GANNON SERIES ...
Gannon leads the all-time series against Bloomsburg by a 9-1 margin. In a complete reversal from the Mercyhurst series, the Huskies won the last game of the series after losing the first nine against the Golden Knights.

LAST MEETING AGAINST GANNON ...
Bloomsburg and Gannon last met on December 21, 2013 at Nelson Field House with the Huskies picking up their first-ever win over the Golden Knights, 67-64 in overtime. Gannon led by four at the break before Bloomsburg's Jon Riles (Philadelphia/Academy of the New Church) completed a second-half comeback with a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to force overtime. The Huskies led from start to finish in the extra session, leading by as many as six before settling for the three-point win. Lorenzo Christmas led Bloomsburg with 23 points while Riles (17) and Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) (16) also finished in double figures. Adam Blazek, who missed a triple at the buzzer in overtime, led Gannon with 21.

SCOUTING GANNON ...
Gannon has gotten off to a slow start and comes in with a 2-4 record overall and a 1-3 mark in league play, records whoch don't reflect Friday night's action at Lock Haven. The Golden Knights are averaging just 60.0 points per game on offense while giving up 68.7 on defense. Gannon most recently played on Tuesday, suffering a 72-61 loss at home to IUP. Jean Yves Toupane leads the Golden Knights by averaging 15.2 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per contest. Isaiah Eisendorf and Matthew Dogan are next in line, averaging 9.5 points per game apiece. Marcus Jones runs the offense and has 21 assists to only 13 turnovers as the Golden Knight point guard. Gannon is shooting just 38.9% from the field through the first six games of the season.

LIFE AT THE LINE ...
Through the first seven games of the season, Bloomsburg has attempted 192 foul shots - an average of 27.4 attempts per game. The Huskies have made 141 free throws for a 73.4% shooting percentage - fourth-best in the PSAC. Over the last five games, the Huskies have averaged 31.6 trips to the charity stripe and are shooting at a 75.3% clip (119-158). Meanwhile, Bloomsburg opponents have attempted 142 free throws in seven games and have made only 88 of those tries (62.0%).

DEPTH PERCEPTION ...
Bloomsburg is getting production from a number of different players this season as 12 of the 15 players who have played at least one game this year have registered at least four points. The Bloomsburg bench has scored 199 points this season, an average of 28.4 points per game and 37.8% of the team's scoring. The bench has outscored the opponents' bench in five of the first seven games and by a total margin of 199-129. Redshirt freshman Tyriek Steward (Wilkes-Barre/Elmer Meyers), who has not started a game this season, leads the Huskies' reserves by averaging 6.4 points per game.  

ALL-AROUND CAREER ...
Senior Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) is quietly putting together a stellar career in a Bloomsburg uniform. This season, he ranks third on the team in scoring by averaging 8.9 points per game. He is also second on the team in assists with 14 (2.0 per game) and leads the team with 14 steals (2.0 per game). He is climbing a number of program career leaderboards including tied for sixth in career steals with 151. He needs three to tie Shawn Munford (1997-01) for fifth on the all-time list. His 212 career assists is closing in the top ten in that regard and he needs 189 points to become the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.

TWENTY NIGHTLY ...
Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) has scored at least 20 points in five straight games for the Huskies and he currently leads the team by averaging 21.9 points per contest. He finished last season with five 20-point games in 25 contests. His scoring average is second in the PSAC, trailing only Seton Hill's Kameron Taylor, who averages 23.8 points per game. Mortellite is 43rd in the country in scoring average.

DIGGING HIS PERFORMANCE ...
Junior point guard Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy) has become one of the best in the PSAC in handling the offense through seven games of the regular season. Transferring to Bloomsburg from Prince George's Community College during the summer, Diggs has moved into second on the team in scoring by averaging 9.1 points per game after scoring a career-high 16 points on Tuesday against East Stroudsburg. He also added a career-high six assists in the loss and leads the team with 23 dimes and only 11 turnovers. He currently leads the team in minutes played as well (27.4). He is tied for 16th in the conference in assists (3.3 per game) but is fourth in the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.1). He is also 11th in the league in free-throw percentage at 80.6% (25-of-31).

DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING ...
Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) has scored in double figures in all seven games this season and now has reached double digits in 18 straight contests dating back to last season. The last time Mortellite did not score at least 10 points in a game was January 14, 2015, when he was held to seven points in just 12 minutes at Mansfield. During his 18-game double-digit point-scoring streak, Mortellite is averaging 20.4 points per game.

COMING UP ROSES ...
Despite the loss to Wilmington on Tuesday, November 24, sophomore Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, DE/Sanford School) easily had his best night as he filled the stat sheet for the Huskies. He finished the game with a season-high-tying six points and then established career-bests with ten rebounds, six blocked shots, and three assists. He became the first Bloomsburg player to record at least five blocked shots in a game since Moustapha Noumbissi (Upper Darby/Delaware County Christian School) swatted six shots against PSU Hazleton on November 14, 2014. Rose leads the Huskies, and is third in the PSAC, by averaging 1.9 blocks per game.

DOWNTOWN WITH THE HUSKIES ...
The Huskies have made at least one three-pointer in 134 consecutive games. The last time Bloomsburg did not make a three in a game was on December 4, 2010, in a 54-51 loss at Lock Haven when it went 0-7 from beyond the arc. Bloomsburg is tied for tenth in the PSAC in three-pointers made per game (6.3), but is seventh in shooting percentage (35.5%). Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) (25) and junior Anthony McKie (Blue Bell/Plymouth Whitemarsh) (9) have combined to make 34 of the team's 44 triples through six games. The duo has combined to shoot 34-of-70 from beyond the arc (48.6%). The rest of the team is 10-of-54 (18.5%).

DEADLY FROM LONG RANGE ...
Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) has picked up where he left off last season in the first seven games of the 2015-16 campaign. Despite averaging only 26.3 minutes per game, Mortellite leads the team in scoring, averaging 21.9 points per game. He has made 25 of his 49 three-point attempts so far this season (51.0%), ranking him first in the PSAC in threes made and fourth in three-point percentage. His 25 total three-pointers also put hom eighth in the country. Last season, Mortellite hit 51 of his 119 three-point attempts (42.9%). His 51 triples last season were the 14th-highest figure in program history. This season, Mortellite is on pace for 93 triples (26 regular season games), which would break the school record of 82 held by Jay DeShields during the 2001-02 campaign. His 76 three-pointers in only 32 career games have him closing in on the top ten in the program's career leaderboard.

SNEED SEES DOUBLE ...
For the first time in his Bloomsburg career, junior forward Malik Sneed (Washington, D.C./Spingarn) posted a double-double, picking up 10 points and 10 rebounds in the victory at California (PA) on November 22. Sneed had not reached double-digits in either category in a game prior to Sunday. He leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.1 boards per contest and is tied for seventh on the team in scoring at 4.9 points per game. Sneed is also second on the team in blocked shots with ten.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE ...
Bloomsburg will be off until Wednesday, December 16, when it travels to West Chester University to meet the Golden Rams. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Huskies will return home on Saturday, December 19, when they entertain Mansfield at Nelson Field House. Start time is slated for 1:00 p.m. and will be the first game of the men's and women's doubleheader against the Mountaineers.