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BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team suffered its worst loss of the season as ninth-ranked Shippensburg University handed the Huskies an 84-59 loss at the Nelson Field House on Saturday afternoon. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak and dropped Bloomsburg to 12-9 overall and 8-9 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. The Raiders, meanwhile, improved to 19-2 overall and 15-2 in league play.
Junior
Carnell McGirt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic (Valley Forge Military Academy)) led the Huskies with 18 points and seven rebounds while senior
Yahmir Greenlee (Philadelphia, Pa./Boys Latin) added 12 points. Redshirt junior
Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton), who entered the game as the PSAC's leading scorer, was guarded closely by Shippensburg's Lamar Talley all afternoon and could generate only 11 points on only nine attempts from the field in 32 minutes.
Bloomsburg, which never led in the game, shot just 11-of-30 (36.7%) from the field in the first half but found itself trailing by only six points at the break. During the half, the Raiders built a nine-point advantage on four separate occasions - the latest coming at 30-21 with 3:21 left. Greenlee and McGirt followed with back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to five with 2:20 remaining. The teams then exchanged hoops the remainder of the half as Shippensburg settled for a 34-28 halftime advantage.
Junior
Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, Del./Sanford School (Highland CC)) scored the first basket of the second half to cut Shippensburg's lead to 34-30 with 19:12 left in regulation.
Then, the Raiders caught fire from deep.
Shippensburg hit four consecutive three-pointers - three from Justin McCarthur - in less than two minutes to extend the lead to 46-32 with 17:23 left, forcing a timeout from Bloomsburg head coach
John Sanow. After the timeout, the Huskies went on a brief, 5-0, run to cut the lead to nine, 46-37, with 15:50 left after a Greenlee triple. But, the Raiders went on a 20-6 run over the next six minutes to take a 66-43 lead with 9:54 left in regulation. During the spurt, Shippensburg's Dustin Sleva, who finished with 28 points and 18 rebounds, had a dozen points.
The Raiders got the lead to as many as 29 points later in the half before the Huskies closed out the contest with two free throws each from McGirt and Greenlee for the final margin.
McGirt finished 6-of-13 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line while also connecting on his first three-pointer in a Bloomsburg uniform. Greenlee's 12 points kept his streak alive of reaching double figures as he has now done it in all 12 of his games this season. Mortellite also hit double digits for the 20th time in 21 games this season.
Sleva had 16 of his 28 points and 11 of his 18 rebounds in the second half as the Raiders put the game out of reach. McCarthur finished with 26 points - 20 of which came in the second half.
Bloomsburg shot just 35.1% (20-of-57) from the field and was outrebounded, 41-25. The Raiders, meanwhile, connected on 32-of-59 (54.2%) from the floor and nailed 9-of-16 (56.3%) from beyond the arc.
The Huskies will now embark on a three-game road swing beginning with a date at Millersville University on Wednesday, February 8. Start time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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