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WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Senior point guard Yahmir Greenlee (Philadelphia, Pa./Boys Latin) returned to the lineup on Friday night and posted career-highs with 15 points, nine assists, and four steals to lift the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team to an 88-73 victory at West Chester University. It marked the first conference win of the season for the Huskies, who improved to 5-5 overall and 1-5 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. West Chester dropped to 5-6 overall and 3-3 in league play.

Greenlee, who averaged 4.7 points and 1.6 assists in 18 games as the backup point guard last season, was inserted into the starting lineup on Friday night in place of the normal starter, senior Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy (Prince George's CC)), who did not play. He posted a previous high of 14 points in a win at Manfield on February 6, 2016 and then had previous highs of four assists and two steals on multiple occasions. He also tied a career-high with four rebounds on Friday night.

Redshirt junior Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) led the Huskies with 21 points while also grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. His 21 points moved him ahead of both Terry Conrad (1979-83) and Larry Webster (2008-12) and into 21st place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,096 points. Next in his sights is Matt Jefferson, who scored 1,114 points from 2002 to 2007.

The game was close throughout much of the first half as the opening 14 minutes saw five ties and eight lead changes. Junior Carnell McGirt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic (Valley Forge Military Academy)), who scored a career-high 18 points in only 20 minutes off the bench, snapped a 23-23 tie with a jumper with 6:38 remaining in the opening twenty minutes. That basket gave the Huskies the lead for good and started a 20-7 run which allowed Bloomsburg to build up a 43-30 lead at halftime.

McGirt had 12 points in the opening half while Mortellite (9), junior Alex Prislupsky (Olyphant, Pa./Mid-Valley) (8), and junior Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, Del./Sanford School (Highland CC)) (7) also had strong starts in the scoring column.

West Chester cut the Huskies' lead to six points after starting the second half on a 7-0 run in the opening 67 seconds. But, Greenlee and Mortellite combined to score ten of Bloomsburg's next twelve points as the Huskies extended the lead back up to eleven, 56-45, with 13:38 remaining.

The hosts made another run, getting the lead down to six, 58-52, with 11:30 left in regulation. But, a free throw and a layup from redshirt freshman Sam Saxton (York, Pa./Central York (Le Moyne)) followed by a layup from McGirt got the lead back to eleven, 63-52, with 10:13 left. The Golden Rams cut the lead to seven with back-to-back baskets from Tyrell Long and Jackson Hyland with 8:56 remaining, but the Huskies went on an 8-0 run, sparked again by Greenlee and Mortellite, to extend the lead to 15 - 71-56 - with 6:59 left.

West Chester could not get the Huskies' lead back into single digits the rest of the way as Bloomsburg went 8-of-9 from the foul line down the stretch to ice the game.

Bloomsburg made 31-of-61 (50.8%) from the field and connected on 6-of-14 (42.9%) of its three-point attempts on Friday. The Huskies were also 20-of-26 from the free-throw line (76.9%). West Chester, meanwhile, shot only 40% from the field and made just 5-of-26 (19.2%) from long range.

Rose finished with 10 points to join Mortellite, McGirt, and Greenlee in double figures for the Huskies. Long, playing in his first game of the season for West Chester, led the Golden Rams with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Malik Jackson, who entered as the PSAC's leading scorer, was held to 15 points on 5-of-19 from the field.

Bloomsburg will return home on Tuesday, January 3 to host Cheyney University at Nelson Field House. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.