Men's Basketball | 1/15/2016 10:30:00 AM

BLOOMSBURG (8-7, 6-5 PSAC East) vs LOCK HAVEN (10-6, 6-6 PSAC East)
Saturday, January 16, 2016 - 3:00 p.m.
Bloomsburg, Pa. | Nelson Field House

GAME NOTES:
Bloomsburg vs Lock Haven 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
Lock Haven - Roster | Schedule | Statistics

LAST TIME OUT ...
Bloomsburg got a balanced scoring attack on Wednesday night and came away with a 71-60 victory at Millersville. Of the eleven players that appeared in the game, ten scored at least two points and four reached double figures in the victory. The Huskies led, 32-20, at halftime after ending the half on a 19-3 run. Bloomsburg led by as many as 22 in the second half before the Marauders made things respectable in the closing minutes. Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) paced the Huskies with 15 points. Malik Sneed (Washington, D.C./Spingarn) posted career-highs in points (13) and blocked shots (5) while Malik Garner (Philadelphia/Chestnut Hill Academy) recorded his second double-double of the season, chipping in ten points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy) also reached double digits, finishing the game with 12. The Huskies forced 19 Millersville turnovers which resulted in 24 Bloomsburg points. The Huskies also got 28 points from their bench on Wednesday. Tommy Patterson and Markeith Mont paced the Marauders with 12 points apiece.

THE LOCK HAVEN SERIES ...
Bloomsburg leads the all-time series, 98-35. Over the last ten meetings, Bloomsburg has gone 8-2 against the Bald Eagles. Last season, the teams split the home-and-home series with the home team winning each contest. Over the course of the last ten matchups, the Huskies' eight wins over Lock Haven have been by an average of 14 points per game.

LAST MEETING AGAINST LOCK HAVEN ...
Bloomsburg got a monster performance from Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) en route to a 94-71 victory at Nelson Field House on February 25, 2015. Saintilus went 8-of-11 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line to finish with 23 points (one shy of his career-high) and then added a career-high 20 rebounds to lift the Huskies to the 23-point victory. Two other Huskies finished in double figures - Jon Riles (Philadelphia/Academy of the New Church) recorded a career-high 28 points while Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) added 24. Bloomsburg led by one at halftime but then outscored the Bald Eagles, 47-25, in the second half. Bloomsburg shot just over 50% from the field and made 22-of-27 free throws. Meanwhile, the Husky defense limited Lock Haven to just 29% shooting in the second half. Bootsie Walker led the Bald Eagles with 19 points in the loss.
 
SCOUTING LOCK HAVEN ...
Lock Haven enters Saturday's contest with a 10-6 overall record and a 6-6 mark in the PSAC Eastern Division - half a game behind Bloomsburg for fifth in the standings. The Bald Eagles suffered a 96-84 loss at home to Shippensburg on Wednesday and have now lost three of their last four games overall. Their only win during the stretch was a 75-69 win at Cheyney on Saturday, January 9. Lock Haven is averaging 76.2 points per game on offense (ninth in the PSAC) while allowing 73.0 points per game (eighth in the PSAC). Lamin Fulton, who led Lock Haven with 18 points on Wednesday, has played in only six games this season but leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.3 points per contest. Preseason All-PSAC East member, Bootsie Walker, is averaging 11.9 points per game and has started all 16 games for the Bald Eagles this season. Brahieme Jackson also averages double figures, chipping in 10.5 points per game. Jackson is the team's leading rebounder at 6.7 boards per contest. Lock Haven uses a very balanced scoring attack as seven players average at least 7.3 points per game. However, rebounding has been an issue for the Bald Eagles. They average just 33.0 rebounds per game (16th in the PSAC) and are outrebounded by an average of 6.7 boards per game (2nd worst in the PSAC).

DOWNTOWN WITH THE HUSKIES ...
The Huskies have made at least one three-pointer in 142 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 struggled to keep the streak alive on Saturday, January 9 at Kutztown, however, as the Huskies went just 2-of-13 from long range. Alex Prislupsky (Olyphant/Mid-Valley) hit the team's first triple with 18:08 left in the contest. In fact, Bloomsburg has made a total of 14 three-pointers over the last four games and is shooting just 20.6% from long distance during the month of January.

GARNERING SOME ATTENTION ...
Senior Malik Garner (Philadelphia/Chestnut Hill Academy) has rapidly climbed up the team's scoring list over the course of the last seven games as he now ranks third on the team in scoring (8.3 ppg) after posting six double-digit scoring outputs in the last seven contests. During the stretch, Garner dropped in a career-best 17 in the win over Mansfield on December 19. Over the last seven games, Garner has scored 89 points (12.7 ppg) on 37-of-70 (52.9%) from the field and 8-of-19 (42.1%) from beyond the arc. Through his first eight games of the year, Garner scored 36 points (4.5 ppg) on 15-of-42 from the field (.357) and 0-of-9 from three-point range. All seven of his double-digit scoring efforts this season have come over the course of the last ten games.

BIG NIGHT FOR BIG GUYS ...
In the win at Millersville on Wednesday, Malik Garner (Philadelphia/Chestnut Hill Academy) and Malik Sneed (Washington, D.C./Spingarn), in particular, came up huge in the 11-point victory. Garner recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 15 rebounds. It was the most rebounds by a Husky player since Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) registered 20 boards against Lock Haven on February 25, 2015. Sneed, meanwhile, recorded a career-high 13 points and blocked a career-high five shots in the victory. Sneed also went 5-of-6 at the foul line - he entered as just a 54.3% foul shooter on the season.

NOTHING TO SNEED AT ...
Malik Sneed (Washington, D.C./Spingarn) is providing the Huskies some excellent minutes off the bench, especially over the last five games. Over the course of the first ten games of the season, Sneed averaged 4.1 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting just 14-of-35 (40.0%) from the field. Over the last five games, Sneed is averaging 6.6 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 11-of-21 from the field (52.4%).

STRUGGLING FROM LONG RANGE ...
Since the calendar switched over to 2016, Bloomsburg has really struggled with its shooting from beyond the arc. Through the 2015 portion of the regular season, the Huskies were sixth in the PSAC making 35.6% of their three-point attempts (68-of-191). Since then, however, it has gone south as the Huskies have connected on just 14-of-68 attempts (20.6%) in four January games. Bloomsburg's best performance in January came against Slippery Rock on January 3 when it made 4-of-13 (30.8%) from beyond the arc. Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) entered January having made 32-of-71 from long distance (45.1%). In four January games, Mortellite is just 3-of-21 (14.3%) from beyond the arc.

CLUTCH AT THE LINE ...
Redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) had a superb afternoon at the free throw line on Sunday, January 3, helping the Huskies hang on for a 70-67 win over Slippery Rock. While the rest of the team went 8-of-22 (36.4%) at the foul line, Mortellite went 10-for-11, including 6-for-6 during the last three minutes, and 4-for-4 over the last sixty seconds as Bloomsburg held on for the win. Mortellite is third in the PSAC, and 14th in the country, in free throw percentage this season as he has converted 72-of-81 from the stripe (88.9%). He has made 38 of his last 41 attempts from the foul line. For his career, Mortellite is 164-of-183 from the foul line (89.6%).

SPECIALTY SCORING ...
Since the turn of the calendar, Bloomsburg has played in some games that have provided lopsided margins in some specialty categories. Bloomsburg took advantage of 17 Slippery Rock turnovers and turned them into 26 points on Sunday, January 3. Meanwhile, The Rock could score just four points off of nine Husky miscues. On the flip side, Slippery Rock had 22 offensive rebounds and turned those into 25 second-chance points. The Huskies, meanwhile, had only seven offensive boards and did not convert a second-chance opportunity in the game. Then, at Kutztown on January 9, the Golden Bears scored 29 fast break points compared to Bloomsburg's two. The Huskies also struggled from the bench, getting a season-low 12 points from their reserves. Meanwhile, Kutztown had 42 points from its bench. Finally, on Wednesday at Millersville, Bloomsburg outscored the Marauders in points off turnovers, 24-4.

ALL-AROUND CAREER ...
Senior Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) ranks fourth on the team in scoring by averaging 7.3 points per game. He is also third on the team in assists with 19 (1.3 per game) and leads the team, and is tied for 14th in the conference, with 22 steals (1.5 per game). He is climbing a number of program career leaderboards including being ranked fifth in career steals with 159. He needs six to tie Trevon Johnson (2008-12) for fourth on the all-time list. His 217 career assists is closing in on being in the top ten in that department and he needs 141 points to become the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.

DEPTH PERCEPTION ...
Bloomsburg is getting production from a number of different players this season as 12 of the 15 players that have played at least one game this year has registered at least 19 points - and all 15 have scored at least one point. Despite only 12 points on Saturday at Kutztown, the Bloomsburg bench has scored 375 points this season, an average of 26.8 points per game and 36.0% of the team's scoring. The bench has outscored the opponents' bench in eight of the first 14 games and by a total margin of 375-370.

NOT LYONS ABOUT THAT EFFORT ...
Redshirt senior Wes Lyons (Millville/Millville) had his best game of the season at Kutztown on Saturday. He scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed a season-best eight rebounds in the loss. It was only his second double-digit scoring effort of the season and his first since the season-opening win over Penn State Hazleton on November 13. In the middle 12 games, Lyons had scored just 50 points (4.2 ppg) and grabbed 31 rebounds (2.6 rpg). Lyons is now 11 points away from 500 for his career. He leads the team in field goal percentage at 51.4% (36-of-70).
 
DIGGING HIS PERFORMANCE ...
Transferring in from Prince George's Community College during the summer, junior Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy) leads the team in assists with 60 (4.0 per game) and is second on the team in scoring (9.4 points per game). He recorded nine assists in a win over Gannon on December 5 but then became the first Husky with at least ten assists in a game since Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) had 10 against Mansfield on January 23, 2013 when he dished out ten helpers in the win over Mansfield on December 19. He is tied for ninth in the conference in assists (4.0) and is fourth in the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.0). He has also recorded seven double-digit scoring efforts with a season-high of 16 coming against East Stroudsburg on December 1.

MALIK-MALIK WITH DOUBLE-DOUBLES ...  
The Huskies have only had two players record a double-double through 15 games this season - junior Malik Sneed (Washington, D.C./Spingarn) and senior Malik Garner (Philadelphia/Chestnut Hill Academy). Sneed was the first to pull off the feat, posting ten points and ten rebounds in Bloomsburg's victory at California (PA) on November 22. Garner turned the trick in the win against Gannon on December 5, scoring ten points and grabbing eleven rebounds. Garner added his second double-double of the season on Wednesday at Millersville, scoring ten points and grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds. The 15 rebounds by Garner was the most by a Husky since Alssene Saintilus (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) had 20 against Lock Haven on February 25, 2015 and was just the fifth double-digit rebounding effort of the season by a Bloomsburg player.

MORE ON MORTELLITE ...
After leading the team in scoring as a rookie last season, Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) again leads the team in scoring this year, averaging 18.6 points per game. That figure has him fifth in the PSAC and first among players in the Eastern Division.  Last season, Mortellite hit 51 of his 119 three-point attempts (42.9%). His 51 triples last season was the 14th-highest figure in program history. This season, Mortellite is on pace for 61 triples (26 regular season games). The school record is 82 held by Jay DeShields during the 2001-02 campaign. His 86 career three-pointers has him closing in on the top ten in the program's career leaderboard.

SANOW CLOSING IN ON SECOND-PLACE IN CAREER WINS ...
Head coach John Sanow is in his tenth season as the head coach of the Bloomsburg men's basketball program and has guided the Huskies to a 109-148 overall record to date - third in Bloomsburg history among career wins. Sanow needs four victories to pass Harold S. Shelly who won 112 games with the Huskies from 1949-1960. However, Sanow has a long time to catch the program's all-time leader, Charlie Chronister, who compiled 559 victores from 1971-2002.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE ...
Bloomsburg will be back on the road on Wednesday, January 20, when it travels to Cheyney. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. The Huskies will then be off until Wednesday, January 27 when they host Shippensburg. Tip-off from Nelson Field House is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.