BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to Slippery Rock University, 83-79, Saturday evening in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover action. The Huskies fell to 1-5 and 0-2 in PSAC action while the Rock improved to 5-2 and 2-0 in conference play.
 
The Huskies led by 12 at halftime as freshman Louie Wild (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) hit a three with three seconds left on the clock to end the first half and give Bloomsburg a 37-25 lead going into the locker room. Junior Justin Anderson (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) opened the second half with a jumper in the paint to push the Huskies' lead to 14, their largest lead of the contest. The Rock seemed to have an answer for each of the Huskies shots in the first five minutes of action, but Bloomsburg maintained a double-digit lead. Slippery Rock's Bobby Clifford hit a jumper with 15:10 to play in the half to cut the lead down to eight, 47-39, for the first time since the first half.
 
After the teams went shot-for-shot over the next 1:15, the Rock went on a 12-4 run over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to just one, 56-55, with 10:46 to play in the second. Junior Jake Neslon halted the run with a layup after grabbing an offensive board and Wild hit another three to push the lead back to six, 61-55, with 9:52 to go.
 
The Rock hung around and slowly chipped away at the lead until they took a 66-64 lead, their first lead since the 4:32 mark of the first. Slippery Rock pushed its lead to four, 70-66, with 7:17 to play but a pair of free throws from junior Travis Elmore (Tobyhanna, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) cut the lead back to two, 70-68, and back-to-back threes from junior Justin Rodriguez (Easton, Pa./Morristown-Beard) gave the lead back to Bloomsburg, 74-70, with 5:16 to play.
 
The lead changed hands five times over the next five minutes until Slippery Rock tied the game at 79-79 with about a minute to play and took the lead, 81-79, on a mid-range jumper from Amante Britt with three seconds to play. Tyler Frederick sealed the 83-79 win with a pair of free throws with less than a second on the clock.
 
The lead went back and forth 20 times in the first half as each team claimed the lead 10 times. Slippery Rock had its last lead of the first with 4:32 to play as Nick Cazacu gave the Rock a 19-18 lead thanks to a pair of free throws. Wild reclaimed the lead for BU with a jumper with 3:42 to play. The Huskies used a 17-6 run to close out the half for the 12-point lead at the break.
 
The Huskies had five players in double figures, led by Wild with 19 points and Rodriguez with 17. Anderson chipped in 14 and Nelson finished the day with 13. Ash Kemble (Myerstown, Pa./Eastern Lebanon County) posted10 points to round out the double-digit scores for BU. The Huskies went 10-for-16 from beyond the arc for the game as Rodriguez went 5-for-6 and Wild went 4-for-5.
 
As a team, the Huskies shot 51.8% (29-for-56) for the contest while Slippery Rock was 44.9% (35-for-78) from the floor for the game.

The Huskies get back to action after finals as they head out west to face Edinboro on December 16 at 7:30 pm and Mercyhurst on December 18 at 3:00 pm. The Huskies wrap up the west trip at Mercyhurst on December 19 at 3:00 pm.