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SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Despite a monster effort from redshirt freshman Tyriek Steward (Wilkes-Barre/Elmer Meyers), the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team fell eight-tenths of a second - and two points - short of a miraculous comeback as the Shippensburg Raiders knocked off the Huskies, 80-78, in front of 722 fans at the Heiges Field House on Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament. The Huskies end their season with a 17-10 overall record while Shippensburg moves on to face top-seeded Kutztown with a 19-8 overall mark.

Steward finished with a career-high 28 points, including 13 consecutive Bloomsburg points over the final 4:20 of regulation. He went 8-of-12 from the field and 10-of-11 from the foul line while also knocking down 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

The Raiders held a five-point lead, 77-72, after Abe Massaley knocked down a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left in regulation. But, Steward buried a tough three-pointer with two Raiders in his face to cut the advantage to two, 77-75, with 16 seconds left. Massaley made one-of-two foul shots at the other end, setting up redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) who buried a three-pointer with just over seven seconds left to knot the game at 78-78.

But, Massaley sent the Raider crowd home happy, going coast-to-coast, and converted a layup with eight-tenths of a second remaining. Mortellite got off a last second attempt from just inside half court but it was too strong.

Mortellite finished with 16 points, joining Steward as the only Huskies to finish in double figures. It was his 37th double-digit scoring effort in his last 38 games.

Shippensburg started hot as Dustin Sleva nailed a three-pointer which preceded back-to-back baskets from Abe Massaley and Tony Ellis to give the Raiders a 7-0 advantage just 1:42 into the contest. Senior Charles Haigler (Charles Town, WV/Hargrave Military Academy) got Bloomsburg its first points of the contest on a three-point play with 17:43 left in the opening half.

The Raiders continued their torrid start as they made 11 of their first 15 shots of the half to take a 26-17 lead at the second media timeout with 11:30 left in the opening twenty minutes. Bloomsburg got the lead to as few as eight points, 37-29, with 4:43 left after Mortellite nailed a three-pointer.

But, the Raiders never cooled off and ballooned the lead to as many as 16 points, 47-31, with 2:21 left. The Huskies scored the final six points of the half on buckets from sophomore Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, DE/Sanford School), junior Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy), and senior Malik Garner (Philadelphia/Chestnut Hill Academy), to cut the Raider lead to ten points, 47-37, at intermission.

Steward led the Huskies with eight points in the opening twenty minutes while Diggs had six points and three assists. Bloomsburg finished the half making 15-of-32 from the field (46.9%) but connected on only 1-of-8 (12.5%) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Raiders came back to earth down the stretch and finished the half making 20-of-41 from the field (48.8%) and 3-of-14 (21.4%) from long distance.

Mortellite scored the first points of the second half with a layup just ten seconds in. But, the Raiders followed with six consecutive points to jump back in front, 53-39, with 17:39 left in regulation.

The teams exchanged baskets over the next several minutes until Bloomsburg went on a 6-0 run to cut a 63-50 Shippensburg lead to seven points with 8:34 left after a jumper from Steward. The Raiders responded by going on a 7-2 run over a two-minute stretch to jump back in front by a dozen, 70-58, with 6:17 left in regulation.

Bloomsburg made another run, cutting the lead to six after a pair of free throws from Steward with 4:20 left. The Huskies had a chance to cut into the advantage further, but Mortellite missed the front end of a one-and-one following a media timeout and Sleva promptly knocked down a triple at the other end to extend the lead back up to eleven.

Steward carried the Huskies on his back to get back into the ballgame.

The redshirt freshman hit one of two on the Huskies' next trip down the floor and then converted a three-point play to cut the lead back to seven, 75-68, with 2:45 left. Steward hit another layup after a Shippensburg miss to trim the lead to five, 75-70, with 2:08 left. Then, after a missed foul shot by the Raiders, he followed with a tough turnaround jumper with 1:28 left and, suddenly, the Shippensburg lead was down to three.

That set up the last-minute fireworks.

Massaley led the Raiders with 17 points and 11 assists to lead four Shippensburg players in double figures.

The Huskies' 17 victories during the 2015-16 season marked the most wins in a season since Bloomsburg went 19-9 during the 2011-12 campaign.