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BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team endured a cold shooting night on Wednesday and dropped an 87-64 decision against 20th-ranked West Chester at the Nelson Field House. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Huskies and dropped them to 12-8 overall and 10-6 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. The Golden Rams improved to 18-3 overall and 14-3 in league play.
 
The Huskies shot just 32.8% from the field on Wednesday night, including 24.1% in the first half as they fell behind, 41-21, at the break. Despite the cold shooting, Bloomsburg did have four players in double figures led by sophomore Alex Prislupsky (Olyphant/Mid-Valley) who had 12 points. Senior Malik Garner (Philadelphia/Chestnut Hill Academy), redshirt sophomore Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton), and junior Yahmir Greenlee (Philadelphia/Boys Latin) each had 11 points in the loss.
 
The 11 points for Greenlee marked the first time that the junior guard had reached double figures in scoring this season – his first in a Bloomsburg uniform.
 
The game was close for the first ten minutes of the contest as Bloomsburg trailed only 19-17 with 9:33 left on th half after a three-pointer from Mortellite – his only triple of the night. But, West Chester went on to score 22 of the final 26 points of the half to take a commanding 41-21 lead at intermission. In fact, the Mortellite triple was the last field goal the Huskies made in the half as junior Donell Diggs (Washington, D.C./Takoma Academy) and Garner each knocked down a pair of free throws to account for the four points in the last nine-plus minutes before intermission.
 
Bloomsburg's first points of the second half came on a layup from Garner with 18:04 remaining which ended a span of 11:29 without a Husky field goal. Prior to Garner's layup, the Golden Rams extended their lead to 50-21 on three straight three-pointers – two from Malik Jackson and one from Avery Brown which forced a Husky timeout.
 
West Chester would go on a mini 6-0 run over the next three minutes to balloon its lead to 56-23 – the largest advantage of the night. Bloomsburg got the lead down to as few as 21 points, but the hole was too much to overcome as West Chester settled for the 23-point victory.
 
Jackson scored 22 points to pace five Golden Rams in double figures.
 
The Huskies only turned the ball over seven times and forced 15 miscues from West Chester. But, the visitors shot 53.7% from the field and made 11 of their 24 three-point attempts (45.8%) on the night. West Chester also outrebounded Bloomsburg, 44-30. Mortellite led the Huskies with seven boards, snapping a string of two straight double-doubles.
 
Bloomsburg's bench scored 38 of the team's 64 points with Prislupsky and Greenlee leading the way. The Huskies also got five points apiece from sophomores Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, DE/Sanford School) and Chandler Junk (Pennsburg/The Perkiomen School) and four from redshirt freshman Tyriek Steward (Wilkes-Barre/Elmer Meyers).
 
The Huskies will look to bounce back on Saturday, February 6, when they travel to Mansfield. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Bloomsburg handled the Mountaineers, 96-65, at the Nelson Field House back on December 19.