MANSFIELD, Pa. – The Bloomsburg men's basketball team fell to Mansfield by a final score of 60-59 in a nail-biting Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division contest Wednesday evening.
 
The tight contest saw four different lead changes in the final three minutes of play, but a late bucket by Mansfield (6-18, 5-15 PSAC) with 17 seconds left to play was the deciding factor as it lifted the Mounties to a one-point victory over the Huskies (1-22, 1-18 PSAC).
 
The Huskies trailed by three points with 1:34 remaining before back-to-back field goals by Louie Wild (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) put Bloomsburg on top 59-58 with 35 seconds left in the game. Following a timeout on the ensuing possession, however, Mansfield's Manir Waller drove the lane and finished a layup with his right hand through contact to put the Mounties back up by one point. A foul was called, but Waller missed the free throw and Bloomsburg was able to the defensive rebound and call timeout after getting the ball past halfcourt to draw up a play in the closing seconds. 
 
On the final possession of the game, the Huskies went to Wild – who had a brilliant offensive performance in crunch time – and the junior was able to get a contested shot off from the left wing after dribbling off a ball screen, but some tight defense forced the shot to rim out as the cluck hit zero.
 
Wild finished the game with 13 points, nine of which came down the final stretch when it was needed the most. The junior guard scored six of his points in the final three minutes of play, and he scored nine of Bloomsburg's final 12 points.
 
Bloomsburg's Jake Nelson (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Rustin) led all players in scoring with 18 points, and the senior forward had a dominating performance on the boards by collecting 15 rebounds to pick up his sixth double-double of the season. His 15 rebounds were a season high and tied for a career high. 
 
Matt Bengel (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) finished in double figures with 11 points and was 3-for-3 from three-point range. Ash Kemble (Myerstown, Pa./Fork Union Military Academy) was the fourth and final Husky in double figures, finishing with 10 points to go along with seven rebounds. 
 
Mansfield was led in scoring by Michael Dickson, who had 17 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Waller was the only other Mountie in double figures and had 10 points as the squad finished with 24 points from bench players. 
 
The Huskies started the game off on the right foot and scored the first six points of the contest after going 3-for-5 from the floor following the opening tip. Bloomsburg continued to hang onto the lead until a layup by Dickson knotted the game up at 11 with 11:05 to go in the opening half. Nelson scored three possessions later to put Bloomsburg back on top, and the Huskies would use that bucket to start a quick 7-0 scoring run to go back on top by a score of 18-11. 
 
Six minutes later, the Mounties would eventually grab their first lead of the game when Jordan Montgomery converted a layup to put the home team on top 25-23. A three-pointer on the team's next possession would put Mansfield up by five. A free throw by Cam Villarouel (Cumming, GA/State College (PA)) with under a minute left in the half brought Bloomsburg back to within four at the half. 
 
Mansfield's Saraj Ali scored on the first possession of the second half to give the team a six-point lead, which would be its largest of the game. From there, Bloomsburg went on an 11-3 scoring run to regain the lead at 35-33. The back-and-forth contest continued and Bloomsburg would ultimately take its largest lead of the second half with five minutes to go following a Bengel three, but Mansfield brought it back to a two-point game before the contest saw its final four lead changes take place in the last three minutes. 
 
The tight game saw a total of nine different lead changes, and the contest was tied at seven different points. 
 
The Huskies finished the game with a modest 42.6% (23-for-54) shooting percentage while Mansfield shot the ball 34.8% (24-for-69) from the floor. 
 
Mansfield scored 36 points in the paint while Bloomsburg had 24. Scoring from the Huskies came more from the outside as the team shot 42.1% (8-for-19) from beyond the arc. 
 
The Mounties scored 16 points off 18 Bloomsburg turnovers, and the Mounties had 11 second-chance points. Bloomsburg finished the game with 10 second-chance points and had six offensive rebounds. Mansfield collected 14 offensive rebounds during the contest. 
 
Bloomsburg will be back in action on Saturday with a road game at Shippensburg. The game is scheduled to tip off at 3:00 PM.