PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Bloomsburg men's basketball team's strong second half was not enough as Jefferson University held on for a 91-77 win Tuesday night. The Huskies dropped to 0-3, while the Rams improved to 3-2.
 
The Huskies trailed but 12 to start the second half, and graduate student Desmond Freeman (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) quickly made it a nine-point game with a three on the Huskies' first possession to make it 47-38. The Rams pushed their lead back to 15 with two straight threes, but Jagger Dressler (Danville, Pa./Danville) answered with a layup to halt the run with 17:45 to go.
 
Jefferson and the Huskies traded the next five baskets until Nate Spurlock hit a three with 13:29 to play to give the Rams a 65-45 lead, their largest of the game. Jake Nelson (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Rustin) made a layup on the Huskies' next possession and grabbed a rebound on the other end of the court to get the ball back to Bloomsburg. Louie Wild (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) made the most of the next possession as he hit a jumper to cut the lead down to 16, 65-49, with 12L23 to play.
 
Nelson and Bismark Nsiah traded threes to keep it a 16-point game before Nsiah pushed the lead back to 18, 70-52, with 10:18 to go. The Huskies eventually cut the lead to 15 with 4:31 to play, thanks to a pair of free throws from Freeman. The Rams got the lead back to 20, 85-65, with 3:17 to play before the Huskies went on a 9-3 run to get to within 14, 88-74, with under a minute left. Jayson Fain hit the final three of the game for Jefferson at the 32-second mark, and Dylan Harris (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) ended the scoring with a three with 17 seconds to go as Jefferson won 91-77.
 
After back-and-forth scoring to open the first half, Jefferson took the lead for good at the 12:25 mark as Erik Timko hit a three for the 16-13 lead. The Rams extended their lead to 11, 24-13, with 9:56 left before intermission.
 
Nelson hit a jumper in the paint to cut it back to nine and kicked off a 4-2 run for the Huskies that got the deficit down to seven, 32-25, with 6:04 left in the half. The Rams answered with a 13-0 run to push their lead to 20, 45-25, with 2:30 to play. Freeman completed the traditional three-point play on the next Huskies' possession before Wild made a layup at the 1:20 mark to cut it to 15, 45-30. He made his next two free throws to get to within 13, 45-32, but the Rams made both free throws during their trip to the free throw line with five seconds to play. After getting the inbound pass, Wild hit a three from the backcourt to cut the lead to 47-35 going into halftime.  
 
The Huskies shot 52.7% from the floor for the game (29-for-55) and were 7-for-14 from beyond the arc. Bloomsburg finished the day 80% from the free throw line (12-for-15).
 
Wild led all players with 25 points, while Nelson finished with 19 and Freeman chipped in 11. The Huskies won the rebounding battle 36-32 though the Rams forced 17 turnovers for Bloomsburg and scored 23 points off of the miscues.
 
The Rams shot 47.3% for the game from the floor and were 17-for-38 from downtown. Timko led Jefferson with 19 points behind a 6-for-14 three-point shooting day.
 
The Huskies return to action after the Thanksgiving break when they welcome Pitt-Johnstown to Nelson Field House to open Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play at 7:30 p.m.