Box Score

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Lead Slips Out of Mounties Hands in Final Minutes in 70-65 Loss at Cheyney

CHEYNEY – Mansfield led for the first 35 minutes of the game but Cheyney rallied over the final five minutes to pull out a 70-65 win in a PSAC East contest Saturday afternoon at Cope Hall.

Mansfield scored the game's first points on a layup by Brady Burke and extended its lead to 37-29 on a 3-pointer by Xavier Warner with a little more than two minutes to go until halftime.

Cheyney would cut the lead to 39-34 on a pair of free throws by Jarrod Johnson to end the first half with Mansfield using a pair of 3-pointers by Charles Becoats to retake an eight-point lead a minute into the second half.

Mansfield still held an eight point advantage when Onyema Utti nailed a 3-pointer seven minutes into the second half for a 50-42 advantage. But Deshawn Curtis scored eight straight points, six of them on a pair of three-pointers, to tie the game at 50-50 with just over nine minutes to go.

The Mountaineers retook the lead on a 3-pointer from Warner and held on to the advantage until Curtis scored on a layup with 5:49 left putting the Wolves up 56-55.

Cheyney would make just two field goal for the remainder of the game but the Wolves would connect on 11 free throws over that span to pull out the win.

Cheyney held a 66-60 led when Becoats nailed his third 3-pointer with 1:34 to play to close to 63-62. A pair of free throws by freshman Ryan Krawczeniuk with 17 second remaining cut it to 67-65 but the Mountaineers couldn't get another shot off before time expired.

Mansfield held the advantage in field goals made (25-21), 3-pointers made (10-7) and rebounds 31-24) but Cheyney went 21-30 from the free throw line to Mansfield's 5-9. Mansfield also turned the ball over 16 times to Cheyney's six.

The Mountaineers had one of their most balanced scoring efforts of the season with six players scoring eight or more points. Becoats and Chalrles Pemberton each scored a team-high 11 points with Pemberton going 5-5 from the floor. Onyema Utti added 10 points. Warner and Ryan Krawczeniuk had nine points each with Joe Bell, who went 4-4 in the first eight minutes of the game, had eight points and a team-best eight rebounds.

Deshawn Curtis came off the bench and scored a career-high 33 points while pulling down 13 rebounds to lead Cheyney.

Mansfield will take a 10 day break for finals before traveling to Gannon on Dec. 17.