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MANSFIELD, PA - The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team rallied from a 20-point deficit in the final minutes of the second half, but were unable to complete the epic comeback in an 88-80 loss at Mansfield Saturday. The Huskies fell to 5-12 overall, and 2-9 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East with the loss.
Trailing 73-53 with 11:30 to play in the second half, Bloomsburg went on a furious 27-7 run over the next 10 minutes to draw to an improbable 80-80 tie with the Mountaineers with just 1:03 remaining. The valiant comeback would end there, however, as a three-pointer from Mansfield's Taylor Sweeney and a Tyler Moffe layup following a Bloomsburg turnover would dash any hopes of a Huskies comeback.
Bloomsburg would trail by just one point midway through the first half thanks to four points from each of the Huskies talented freshmen
Travis Elmore (Tobyhanna, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) and
Sekou Fofana (Philadelphia, Pa./West Catholic), but a 12-4 Mansfield run would give the Mountaineers a 28-16 with 9:15 to play in the half. The deficit would balloon to as much as 15 late in the half, but three-pointers from Fofana and
Peyton Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) would trim the Mansfield lead to 47-37 at the half.
The Mountaineers would blow the game open in the second period, opening up a 69-46 lead with 15:01 to play in the game thanks to 12 points from Moffe and a pair of three's from Sweeney and Mike Rell. The Mansfield lead would stay over 20 points until the 11:30 mark of the half, when Bloomsburg would flip the switch.
Back-to-back buckets from Fofana would trim the deficit to 15 points, while another Mortellite triple and a pair of free throws from
Nicholas King (Easton, Pa./Freedom) would shrink the Mansfield lead to single digits for the first time in the half. Mortellite would drain a third three-pointer with 4:25 to play to slice the deficit to just three, and consecutive buckets from Elmore would knot the game at 80-80 with just over a minute to play.
The Bloomsburg rally would come up just shy, despite a banner day in the young career of Elmore, who finished with a career-high 25 points on 11-of-15 from the floor, and 10 rebounds. Fofana was equally impressive on the afternoon, posting 23 points, six rebounds, and a pair of made three-pointers. Mortellite splashed in 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc.
As a team, Bloomsburg shot 47.8% from the floor, but allowed Mansfield to go 58.6% from the field and a whopping 48.4% from three-point territory. The Huskies won the rebounding battle 34-29, and outscored the Mountaineers 46-29 in the paint, but were unable to overcome the red hot Mansfield shooting.
Moffe led the way for the Mountaineers with a game-high 31 points, while Sweeney added 16 points and seven rebounds. Rell chipped in 11 points and a game-high eight assists, while McFall and Garrett Cook also finished in double-figures with 10 points each.
The Huskies will be back in action this Wednesday, January 30, at Shippensburg. Tip-off with the Raiders is set for 8:00 p.m.
