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MANSFIELD, Pa. - It was a night for the ages for redshirt junior Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) on a night when the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team needed him the most.

Mortellite scored a career-high 39 points and hit a career-best nine three-pointers to lift the Huskies to an 81-77 victory at Mansfield University on Wednesday night at Decker Gymnasium. With the win, Bloomsburg improved to 14-9 overall and moved to 10-9 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division standings. The Huskies' magic number to clinch a berth in the conference tournament dropped to one. The Mountaineers, meanwhile, dropped to 9-14 overall and 7-13 in league play.

Bloomsburg, which had only seven players dress on Wednesday night, needed a big performance from its star and it got one. The redshirt junior made 13-of-20 from the field and connected on 9-of-15 from long range, falling just one triple shy of tying the school-record of 10 set by Jay DeShields during the 1999-2000 season. His 39 points marked the most by a Bloomsburg player since Al Williams scored 40 against Mansfield on February 25, 1978 and tied for the fifth-most in a single game in program history.

His nine three-pointers also set the Bloomsburg record - men or women - for most triples in a season with 98. Dana Wieller had the previous Bloomsburg high of 97 during the 2011-12 women's basketball campaign.

Mortellite and the Huskies came up big in the final two minutes. Trailing 77-71 with 1:56 left, Bloomsburg closed out the contest on a 10-0 run to earn the come-from-behind victory. Mortellite started the run with a three-pointer - his ninth of the game - to cut the lead to 77-74. Senior Yahmir Greenlee (Philadelphia, Pa./Boys Latin) hit a layup with 1:24 left to trim the lead to one and then junior Carnell McGirt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic (Valley Forge Military Academy)) knocked down two foul shots with 58 seconds left to give the Huskies a one-point lead. Mortellite followed with a pair of free throws and, after Mansfield's Andreas Katopodis missed a game-tying three-pointer with four seconds left, senior Malik Sneed (Washington, D.C./Spingarn (Prince George's CC)) went 1-of-2 at the line to ice the victory.

McGirt, who hit the big foul shots to give the Huskies the lead with less than a minute left, was the only other Bloomsburg player in double figures as he finished with 14 points. Greenlee finished with nine which snapped his streak of 13 consecutive double-digit scoring efforts. Freshman Jordan Melochick (Port Carbon, Pa./Pottsville) had a career-high six points off the bench while redshirt freshman Sam Saxton (York, Pa./Central York (Le Moyne)), who made his second start in a row, finished with a career-high six assists to go along with five points.

Mansfield started quickly and led by as many as 13 points, 27-14, with 8:13 left in the opening half. But, the Huskies went on a 19-4 run over the next five minutes to take a 33-31 advantage. McGirt had six points while Saxton had all five of his points during the spurt. The teams exchanged baskets the rest of the half and, when the dust settled, the teams were deadlocked at 41-41 at the break.

The second half belonged to Mortellite as he scored 24 of his 39 points in the final twenty minutes and accounted for 60% of the Huskies' points (24-of-40) in the second half.

Bloomsburg took its largest lead of the game, 50-43, with 17:32 left and four points at the outset of the half from McGirt and five points from Mortellite. But, the Mountaineers scored seven of the game's next eight points to cut the Huskies' lead to 51-50 with 14:44 left in regulation.

Mortellite went on to score 12 of Bloomsburg's next 16 points over a six-minute stretch to keep the Huskies in front, 67-65, with 8:25 remaining. Greenlee added a layup 20 seconds later to give Bloomsburg a 69-65 advantage. Again, Mansfield responded with a big run, this time a 12-2 spurt - to take its 77-71 lead with 2:12 left before the Huskies' big run at the end of the game.

Bloomsburg shot 30-of-54 (55.6%) from the floor and hit 11-of-22 from long range. Mansfield, meanwhile, connected on 29-of-65 (44.6%) from the field and made only 3-of-15 (20.0%) from beyond the arc. Mansfield also held a 35-26 margin in rebounding.

Mortellite's effort overshadowed a big game from Mansfield's Matt Tamanosky who finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds in a losing effort.

Bloomsburg will look to clinch a playoff spot on Saturday, February 18, when it heads to East Stroudsburg University. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m.