MANSFIELD-The Bloomsburg University men's basketball team saw its four-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday with a 68-64 loss to Mansfield in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup.
Bloomsburg fell behind 5-0 in the early going, but two three-pointers from Ruben Britt (Voorhees, NJ, Eastern Regional) helped the Huskies take the lead at 10-8 with 13:46 to go in the half. The Mountaineers rallied and went up by six points, 21-15, before the Huskies cut the lead back to two at the break, 30-28, with the help of two free throws from Britt with 1:19 to go.
In the second half the Huskies Greg Elliott (White Rock, British Columbia, Earl Marriott) came out on fire and hit two jumpers and a three-pointer to give Bloomsburg a 35-32 lead with 18:15 to go in the game. After Mansfield briefly regained the lead, the Huskies Jesse Betar (Altoona, Altoona) gave Bloomsburg a two-point lead after hitting a three-pointer with 15:30 to go. The Mounties regained with back-to-back baskets from Yuseff Carr and pushed the margin to as many as nine points, 63-54, with 2:35 to play.
Bloomsburg came back and cut the lead down to two points with a 7-0 run. Larry Webster (Elkton, MD, Elkton) hit one of two from the foul line and Britt a jumper for a 63-57 Mansfield lead. After a Mountaineer miss, Webster scored inside on a layup, and following a Mansfield turnover, Britt hit two free throws making it a two-point game at 63-61 with 1:02 to play. Down the stretch though, Mansfield hit 4-6 from the foul line to hold off the Huskies and post a 68-64 victory.
Britt finished with 22 points for the Huskies with Elliott chipping in nine. For Mansfield, Ryan Callahan scored 29 points with Carr adding 20.
With the loss the Huskies fall to 12-13, 6-7 in the PSAC East, while Mansfield improves to 18-8, 9-4 in the PSAC East. Bloomsburg plays at Kutztown in the regular season finale on Saturday starting at 3 p.m.