HTML BOX SCORE

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team just couldn't get anything going on Friday night and dropped an 88-48 decision to the visiting Mercyhurst Lakers in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover game at Nelson Field House. The loss dropped the Huskies to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the PSAC East while the Lakers improved to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the West.
 
Junior Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy) led the Huskies with 14 points while sophomore Alex Prislupsky (Olyphant/Mid-Valley) added 11 in just 13 minutes off the bench.
 
Bloomsburg held leads of 3-0 and 5-2 early courtesy of a free throw by Diggs, a layup from redshirt senior Wes Lyons (Millville/Millville), and a layup from senior Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) with 18:14 left in the first half.
 
Then, disaster struck.
 
Mercyhurst went on a 47-5 run to close the first half with a 49-10 lead. The Lakers went on a 15-0 run after Haigler's basket to take a 17-5 lead with 14:35 left. Diggs hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to ten with 14:05 remaining. The Huskies, however, would not score again until Lyons converted a layup with 2:11 left in the first half as the Lakers built a 40-7 lead at the time.
 
Bloomsburg shot just 3-of-18 in the first half (16.7%), 4-of-11 at the free throw line (36.4%), and turned the ball over 16 times against the PSAC's top-ranked defensive unit. On the flip side, Mercyhurst was 19-of 31 from the field (61.3%) and 6-of-9 (66.7%) from long distance in the opening twenty minutes.
 
Mercyhurst built its lead to as many as 49 points in the second half -  65-16  with 13:19 left in the contest. Both teams emptied the benches for a majority of the second half and the Lakers settled for a 40-point win.
 
It was the Huskies' worst loss, and fewest points scored in a game, since dropping a 102-44 decision at East Stroudsburg on February 27, 2013.
 
Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) had his string of 18 consecutive games of scoring at least ten points snapped on Friday night. The Laker defense stymied the sharpshooter to just two points on 1-of-8 shooting in 18 minutes.
 
Diggs made just one field goal but went to the free throw line 18 times, making 12, for his team-high 14 points. Prislupsky was 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from long distance for his 11 points. He also added a career-high four steals and tied for the team-high with four rebounds.
 
The Huskies shot just 29.5% for the game, making only 13 field goals in 44 attempts.  Bloomsburg was also outrebounded by a 44-24 margin and turned the ball over 21 times which led to 30 Laker points.
 
Kayode Ajenifuja led three Lakers in double figures with 15 points.
 
The Huskies will have little time to regroup as they host the Golden Knights of Gannon University on Saturday, December 5. Tip-off from Nelson Field House is set to begin at 4:00 p.m.