Men's Basketball | 1/29/2022 7:07:00 PM
Box Score BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Despite a great comeback in the second half, the Bloomsburg University men's basketball team fell to Millersville at home Saturday afternoon, 80-74.
The Huskies (3-13, 2-10) were able to battle back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to take their first lead of the game with 12:47 remaining in the second half, but a late rally by the Marauders (16-4, 10-4) was good enough for the away team to capture a road win.
Bloomsburg received a solid outing by Justin Anderson (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) on the offensive end as the junior guard led the team with 23 points and shot 9-17 from the field. Junior forward Jake Nelson (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Rustin) also had a big game by recording a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Travis Elmore (Tobyhanna, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) had 16 points and added seven boards to the team's rebounding totals, which favored the Huskies as they outrebounded Millersville 40-35. Peyton Mortellite (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) gave Bloomsburg some solid shooting from the outside, going 3-5 from three-point range and finishing with 11 points as the fourth player to finish in double figures.
Millersville, which sits in the No. 2 spot in the East division of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) behind Shippensburg, jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead within the first three minutes of the game. The Marauders would hold onto its lead throughout the remainder of the half and a late three pointer by Mortellite in the closing seconds would make it a seven-point game at the half, 36-29.
A pair of jump shots by the away team would stretch Millersville's lead to 40-29 in the opening minute of the second half, but that's when Bloomsburg would begin its comeback. Layups by Elmore and Justin Rodriguez (Easton, Pa./Morristown-Beard), who had a solid performance with seven points, six assists and six rebounds, cut the lead down to seven. Minutes later, Mortellite connected from three-point range and on the ensuing possession, Anderson buried a three to make it a one-point game (43-42) with 14:27 remaining. Two minutes later and after the teams traded a few baskets, a field goal by Elmore gave Bloomsburg its first lead of the game.
Following a few lead changes, the Huskies would go on to regain the advantage and gain a four-point lead with 7:31 to go. Millersville's Mekhi Hendricks hit a big three to cut the deficit to one a minute later and the Marauders regained the lead on their next possession following a field goal by Khari Williams, who finished the contest with 28 points and nine rebounds. Millersville went 1-2 from the free throw line on its next possession, but Nelson converted a field goal to retie the game at 66 with just over five minutes left to play. The Marauders, however, would regain its lead by converting two-point field goals on its next two possession and hang on to the lead for the remainder of the game.
Bloomsburg finished the game shooting a total of 29-65 from the field (44.6%) and had 15 second-chance points. The Huskies also had 38 points in the paint and 12 points off turnovers.
The men's basketball team will return to the court on Monday with another home contest against East Stroudsburg. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:00 p.m.
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