Mounties Late Rally Falls Short in 79-72 Setback to Shippensburg

MANSFIELD – Brad Williams scored nine of his team-high 16 points in the final three minutes but Mansfield late-game rally came up short in a 79-72 loss to Shippensburg in a PSAC East matchup on First Citizens Community Bank Court Wednesday evening.

Mansfield held a 14-13 advantage five minutes into the game before Shippensburg used a 9-0 run to take a 22-14 lead midway through the first half.

Shippensburg increased the lead to 43-29 at halftime behind Dustin Sleva who scored 14 of his game-high 20 points over the first 20 minutes.

The Raiders took their largest lead of the night at 54-39 on a layup by Antonia Kellem with 12 minutes remaining.

But Mansfield countered with a 10-2 run over the next four minutes pulling to 56-49 on an Eric Lewis Jr. layup. Shippensburg extended its lead to 71-59 before Mansfield started a torrid comeback starting with a dunk by Balla Thiam with just over two minutes left in the game and closing to 71-66 one minute later on a 3-pointer by Williams.

Williams, playing in his first game of the season, topped four Mountaineers in double-figures connecting on 6-9 from the floor and pulling down five rebounds. Da'Quan Jones added 13 points and eight rebounds while Thiam and Thomas Moore scored 10 points each.

In addition to his 20 points, Sleva pulled down a career-best 21 rebounds. Abe Massaley also scored 20 points for Shippensburg.

Mansfield closes out the 2015 portion of its schedule at Bloomsburg on Saturday.