Bloomsburg Athletics

BOX SCORE

HAZLETON—The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team opened the 2016-17 season in a big way downing Penn State-Hazleton, 87-47, on Friday night with five players scoring in double figures.
 
The Huskies came out on fire jumping out to a 7-0 lead just a minute-and-a-half into the contest. PSU-Hazleton rallied and trimmed the deficit to just two, 11-9, with 15:23 to go in the half. But that would be as close as the home team would get for the game.
 
Over the next ten minutes Bloomsburg went a 30-0 run to blow the game wide open. Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) scored 10 points in the big run hitting a pair of 3-pointers along the way. Junior Khyree Hunt-Hawkins (Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington (Baltimore City CC)) came off the bench and scored eight straight points, including a pair of three's, while Karonn Davis (Philadelphia, Pa./Friends' Central (Niagara Univ.)) added seven points in the rally.
 
While the Bloomsburg offense was clicking, the Huskies defense turned up the pressure in that ten-minute stretch forcing the Lions into 0-10 shooting from the floor and nine turnovers. Hazleton finally broke the big run with a bucket with 4:50 to play in the half and went to the locker room trailing 48-19.
 
In the second half the Huskies again used a big run to extend its lead. This time it was a 17-4 run at the start of the half, led by seven points by Davis, that extended the margin to 45 points, the biggest of the game, 66-21 with 14:38 to play.
 
For the game the Huskies shot 52.5 percent from the floor (32-61) and 47 percent (10-21), while Bloomsburg held the home team to 31 percent shooting (19-60), while forcing 21 turnovers.
 
Mortellite scored a game-high 20 points for Bloomsburg, while Davis added 14 points with Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, Del./Sanford School (Highland CC)) chipping in 12 points.  Carnell McGirt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic (Valley Forge Military Academy)) and Hunt-Hawkins also hit double figures with 11 points each. Jacob Salano scored a team-high 17 points for the Lions, now 2-2 on the year.

Bloomsburg, 1-0, hosts Lincoln University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in its home opener.