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MANSFIELD, Pa. - It's becoming a broken record but it was another night to remember for redshirt senior
Christian Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton).
Mortellite led a frenetic comeback effort, scoring 14 of his game-high 32 points over the final ten minutes of regulation, as the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team rallied from 19 points down over the last ten minutes to stun Mansfield University, 74-73, at Decker Gymnasium on Wednesday night. The Huskies, who have clinched the fifth seed in the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament, improved to 15-10 overall and 11-10 in the PSAC East. The Mountaineers dropped to 6-19 overall and 5-16 in league play.
The redshirt senior nailed a three-pointer with 14:35 left in the second half to become just the 12th player in PSAC history to record 2,000 career points - yet another milestone reached over his brilliant four-year career. But, it was the 16 points he scored after that milestone-reaching basket that enabled the Huskies to pull off a stunning comeback.
With his 32 points, Mortellite now has 2,017 career points - tied for the tenth-highest total in the history of the conference.
Mortellite was 11-of-19 from the field and 8-of-15 from three-point range en route to his fourth 30-point effort of the season and the ninth of his career. Sophomore
Khary Mauras (Reading, Pa./Reading) was the only other Huskies' player in double digits as he finished with 16 points while adding nine rebounds, five assists, and five steals.
But, it was senior
Kyle-Michael Rose (Middletown, Del./Sanford School) who came up clutch in the end. Trailing 73-72 with four seconds left in regulation, Rose was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound and promptly buried both foul shots to give the Huskies a one-point lead. With fouls to give, the Huskies used two of them on Mansfield's last possession before Matt Tamanosky's jumper attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.
Rose finished with eight points, three rebounds, five blocked shots, and three steals on the night.
Bloomsburg trailed by 19 points, 58-39, with ten minutes left before a Mortellite triple swung the pendulum into the Huskies' favor. Freshman
Ethan Houston (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle) nailed his only three-pointer of the game with 8:41 left to pull the Huskies to within 58-45. After a Mansfield basket, a pair of foul shots from Mortellite and back-to-back triples from freshman
Matthew Kachelries (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) and from Mortellite got the Mansfield lead back into single digits, 60-53, with 7:04 left.
Mansfield attempted to pull away as it extended the lead to ten, 67-57, with 4:51 left. But, within a minute, Bloomsburg cut the lead to 67-65 on a pair of free throws from Mauras and back-to-back three-pointers from Mortellite. The Mountaineers got a layup from Tyler Moffe on their next possession to extend the lead to four before the Huskies went on a 7-0 run to take a 72-69 lead with 1:28 left after Mauras nailed a shot from long range to end the spurt.
Tamanosky converted back-to-back layups - the latter of which came with 22 seconds left - to give the hosts their 73-72 lead which set up Rose's heroics from the charity stripe.
Mansfield got off to a hot start as it built up a 41-26 lead at halftime thanks to Malik Carter's 18 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Mountaineers' lead ballooned to as many as 19 points on two different occasions in the second half before Bloomsburg rallied.
Bloomsburg shot only 39.1% from the field (25-of-64) but made 13-of-27 from long range (48.1%) to chip away at the Mansfield lead. The Mountaineers shot 51.7% from the floor (30-of-58) and hit 8-of-17 from beyond the arc (47.1%). However, Mansfield attempted only three triples in the second half (one made) while Bloomsburg was 8-of-15 over the same span.
Mansfield held a 39-30 edge in rebounding but turned the ball over 18 times as compared to Bloomsburg's nine miscues.
Carter led Mansfield with 22 points while Jeremiah Worthem had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Bloomsburg will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, February 24, when it heads to Shippensburg University. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
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