Box Score (HTML)


KUTZTOWN, Pa. – A thunderous rally from the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team nearly wiped out what seemed like an insurmountable halftime deficit before falling short in the final minutes, 99-94, at Kutztown on Wednesday night.

Kutztown (17-10, 14-7 PSAC) was absolutely on fire during the first half. The Golden Bears put on a clinic, hitting 17 of their first 19 field goal attempts on the way to shooting at an 82.8 percent clip (24-of-29) over the opening period, taking a 60-32 cushion into halftime.

When it would have been easy to pack it in, the Huskies (9-15, 5-15) battled back - Bloomsburg would dominate the second half, exploding for a 40-15 run.

Kutztown led by 30, 64-34, with 18:54 to play when the Huskies turned the tide. Twelve minutes later, Bloomsburg was within single digits at 81-72 following a 3-pointer from reigning PSAC East Freshman of the Week Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton).

With still 6:56 to play, the Huskies had all the momentum rolling in their favor. Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) blocked a shot attempt on the defensive end, and finished with a layup for an 81-74 score to force Kutztown to call timeout.

From there, the Golden Bears were able to regain some of the control they had lost over the previous 13 minutes. Anthony Selby put home a layup following the timeout and the teams exchanged scoring plays over the next two minutes with time in Kutztown's favor.

Down 90-80 with 3:23 to go, Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) drove the lane, putting his attempt in off the glass and drew a foul for a traditional three-point play and a seven-point deficit.  
Kutztown then missed a pair of free throws, and a foul by the hosts allowed Mortellite to go to the line and sink both tries to draw within six at 92-86 and 1:54 remaining.

Austin Beidelman drew a foul on the next trip down the floor, however, and made both free throws for a 94-86 advantage. Kutztown was in control for the final 90 seconds from that point.

Three players scored over 20 points for Bloomsburg – Haigler made nine of his 14 attempts from the floor for a team-high 24 points along with six rebounds. Mortellite went 7-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, and finished with 22 points to score in double figures for the ninth straight game. Saintilus also netted 22 points along with eight rebounds to give the Huskies multiple players with over 20 points for the first time since an overtime win over Adelphi on Nov. 15.

Kutztown cooled in the second half, but still shot over 65 percent for the game (32-of-49) behind Josh Johnson's 9-of-10 performance for a game-high 28 points. Johnson sank 18-of-19 attempts from the field in two games against Bloomsburg this season.

Tynell Fortune also had 17 points while Selby registered 18 points off the bench.

Bloomsburg returns to action on Saturday at Millersville.