BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Saturday afternoon, the Bloomsburg men's basketball team dropped a back-and-forth battle to Goldey-Beacom, 84-75. The Huskies fell to 0-2, while the Lightning moved to 2-2 for the year.
 
The Lightning held a 41-33 lead at halftime, but the Huskies came out of the break with a defensive stop and went on a 10-2 run to tie the game 43-43 with 17:18 to play. Sophomore Jagger Dressler (Danville, Pa./Danville) forced a turnover on Goldey-Beacom's first possession of the half. Dressler's layup just rolled off the rim, and sophomore Hunter Healy (Quakertown PA/Bishop McDevitt) grabbed the offensive board. After his shot went off a Lightning player and out of bounds, junior Louie Wild (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) fed the ball into Dressler on the rebound for the first two points of the half. The two teams traded turnovers on the next two possession before graduate student Desmond Freeman (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) made a layup to cut the lead to four. Goldey-Beacom hit a jumper on the other end of the court before. Dressler and Wild hit back-to-back threes to tie the game at 43.
 
The Huskies took the lead with a three from sophomore Ash Kemble (Myerstown, Pa./Fork Union Military Academy) with 15:58 to play, but a seven-point run for the Lightning pushed their lead back to seven, 53-46, with 14:02 to play. Sophomore Cam Villarouel (Cumming, GA/State College (PA)) got it back to two, 55-53, with a jumper at the 11:43 mark before the Lightning used a five-point run to take a 59-53 advantage.
 
With 8:12 to play in the second half, Wild fed the ball to Dressler after forcing a turnover, and Dressler made the layup to cut the lead to one, 62-61, to cap an 8-3 run for the Huskies. The Lightning drew a foul at the end of their next possession, and Zayon Marsh missed both attempts. Damani Thomas grabbed the offensive board and dished it back to Marsh, who made the basket and finished the and-1 to push the lead back to four, 65-61, with 7:11 to play. Goldey-Beacom extended its lead to 10, 73-63, with 3:54 to play before the Huskies cut it to six, 73-67, with 2:52 to go, thanks to a free throw from senior Jake Nelson (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Rustin). The Huskies couldn't get past the six-point deficit, and the Lightning made clutch free throws in the final 90 seconds to hang on for the 84-75 win.
 
The two teams went back and forth in the game's first three minutes before Zack Oree gave Goldey-Beacom the lead, 9-6, at the 17:15 mark. Kemble cut it back to one, 9-8, on the Huskies' next possession, but the Lightning held off the Bloomsburg offense.
 
Trailing 23-16 with 9:39 to play before the break, the Huskies went on an 8-2 run that took two minutes of game time to get back to within one, 25-24. Goldey-Beacom pushed its lead back to six, 30-24, at the 6:37 mark, but a three from sophomore Dylan Harris (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) and a jumper in the paint from freshman Danny Bruce (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane) cut the lead back to one, 30-29, with 5:52 to go.
 
A pair of free throws from Kemble gave the Huskies the lead, 31-30, at the 5:24 mark, but the Lightning went on a nine-point run to retake the lead, 39-31, with 3:05 to play. Nelson cut the deficit to six at the 2:45 mark, but Marsh hit the last shot of the half to give Goldey-Beacom a 41-33 lead going into the locker room.
 
For the game, the Huskies shot 45.3% (29-for-64) as a team and were 8-for-10 from the free-throw line. Bloomsburg was 9-for-23 from beyond the arc for the game, though the Huskies were 6-for-9 from long range in the second half.
 
Wild led the team with 20 points, while Kemble picked up his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Freeman finished the day with 14 points.
 
The Huskies held a 37-36 advantage in rebounds though Goldey-Beacom won the battle on the offensive glass 13-10.
 
Marsh led all players with 26 points, and the Lightning shot 45.3% (29-for-64) for the game.

The Huskies hit the road for the first time this season on Tuesday as they travel to Jefferson University for a 7:00 p.m. contest.