INDIANA, Pa. – The Bloomsburg men's basketball team fell 74-71 in a narrow defeat to IUP Tuesday evening. 

The Huskies (2-8, 0-4 PSAC) entered the half with a 26-25 lead before getting edged out by the home Crimson Hawks (7-3, 4-0 PSAC) in an explosive offensive half that saw 96 combined points between the two sides.

Tony Henderson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) led Bloomsburg for a career-high 17 points with the Huskies to go with a team-high three steals. Jake Nelson (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Rustin) scored 14 points while adding seven rebounds and Louie Wild (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) dropped 11 points coming off the bench.  

How It Happened: 
Justin Rodriguez (Newark, N.J./Morristown-Beard) opened the scoring a minute and a half into the game with a jumper before IUP answered with a 7-0 run to grab its first lead of the contest. Down 14-4 at the 13:00 minute mark, the Huskies sought to chip away at the early deficit.

Several players for Bloomsburg contributed in the effort to reclaim the lead. Desmond Freeman (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) knocked down a triple to get the Huskies back into the flow of the game as Nelson later added five points of his own to make it an 18-16 ball game. Raphael Castillo (Newark, N.J./Morristown Beard) got a transition jumper to fall with 7:00 minutes left in the first half to tie the game at 20-20.

After trading baskets, Castillo again came through with another pivotal basket, this time giving Bloomsburg its first lead since the beginning moments of the game. As the sides continued to jockey for an edge, Freeman hit a jumper in transition to send the Huskies into halftime with a one-point advantage.

The pace of the game began to pick up with play in the second half as both sides looked to establish their offensive presence after sluggish opening halves. Henderson scored the first seven points out of the break for the Huskies as the Crimson Hawks looked to pull away after retaking the lead. Pivotal three-point makes from Henderson and Freeman helped keep Bloomsburg within a point.

IUP spurred off a 7-2 run to grab a multi-possession advantage nearing the midpoint of the half. It was Nelson's turn to help spark the Huskies' offensive efforts with a pair of makes to make it a 43-39 game with 13:00 minutes to play. 

Bloomsburg had several opportunities to cut further into the lead, but the team faced a response from the home Crimson Hawks. Henderson cut it to a one-possession game with 7:00 minutes in regulation following another transition basket before IUP rattled off four quick points to hold a seven-point margin, eventually leading to a 10-point, 67-57 lead with 3:23 remaining. 

With two steals to go with a layup from DJ Gordon (Pittsburgh, Pa./First Love Christian Academy) and five points from Henderson, Bloomsburg found itself in a familiar position, trailing by three with two minutes to play. Despite the effort and six late points from Wild, the Huskies could not find a way to erase the deficit in the closing moments.

On the Horizon:
The Huskies return to Nelson Field House on Saturday, December 30th, at 1:00 p.m. for a PSAC game against Seton Hill.