BLOOMSBURG – The Bloomsburg men's basketball team fell to Pittsburgh-Johnstown in their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opener by a final of 77-59 Friday night in the Nelson Field House. 
 
Pitt-Johnstown (5-2, 1-0) jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half and continued to shoot the ball well in the second half en route to its 18-point win over the Huskies (0-4, 0-1 PSAC). 
 
After entering halftime up by 11 points, the Mountain Cats started the second half on a seven-point run to extend its lead to 18. Bloomsburg would respond quickly, however, as a three-pointer by Jake Nelson (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Rustin) cut into the deficit and sparked a quick run for the Huskies, who went on to outscore the Pitt-Johnstown 12-2 over the next two-and-a-half minutes of play to make it an eight-point game at 45-37 with 15 minutes remaining. The run was capped off by a three pointer by Desmond Freeman (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford), who led Bloomsburg in scoring with 18 points on a 5-for-8 shooting night. Freeman was also 4-for-7 from three-point range. 
 
The eight-point margin would be as close as Bloomsburg would get to tying up the game though, as Pitt-Johnstown was able to get back on top by double digits and hang on to a comfortable lead for the remainder of the contest.
 
Freeman and Pitt-Johnstown's John Paul Kromka led all scorers with 18 points. The Mountain Cats also had three more players in double figures in Ryan Smith, Jared Jakubick and Caiden Landis. 
 
For Bloomsburg, Nelson was one point away from a double-double as the senior forward finished with nine points and 11 rebounds. Ash Kemble (Myerstown, Pa./Fork Union Military Academy) also had nine points and added eight rebounds to go along with one block and an assist. 
 
Matt Bengel (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) finished with seven points and Cam Villarouel (Cumming, GA/State College (PA)) had six points off the bench. Louie Wild (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) led the team in assists with four and added five points.
 
Bloomsburg won the rebounding category, 39-34, and had 13 second-chance points. The Huskies also shot well from the free-throw line, going 14-for-19 to finish at 73.7%. As a team, the Huskies went 7-for-17 from three-point range to finish at a modest 41.2%. 
 
The Huskies will return to action on Saturday with another PSAC home game against No. 3 nationally ranked IUP (6-0, 1-0). The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 PM after the women's game, which will also be against the Crimson Hawks at 5:30 PM.