Bloomsburg Rallies to Pull Out Late 86-79

BLOOMSBURG – Malik Carter scored a game-high 25 points and Mansfield led by as many as 12 points in the second half before Bloomsburg rallied for an 86-79 win in a PSAC East game Wednesday evening.

The game was tied at 71-71 when Mansfield's Jahyde Gardiner slammed down a dunk with 1:51 remaining and Mountaineers trailed 75-74 when Matt Tamanosky hit a free throw with 1:05 left. Mansfield was down 78-76 after Carter hit a layup with 26 seconds to play but Bloomsburg iced the win by hitting six free throws to hold off for the win.

Mansfield limited Bloomsburg to just 27 points in the first half in holding a 35-27 advantage and took a double-digit lead two minutes into the second half on a layup by Tamanosky giving the Mountaineers a 39-29 advantage. Reilly Collins hit two free throws extending the lead to 41-31 and later tipped-in a rebound putting the Mountaineers up 43-31 going into the first media timeout of the second half.

But Bloomsburg rallied, going on 19-5 run over the next six minutes taking a 48-47 lead on a layup by Donell Diggs.

Mansfield tied the score and then went up 53-50 on a pair of free throws by Cedrick Powel before Bloomsburg got a 3-pointer by Greenlee to tie the score and took a 55-53 lead on a Diggs layup with 10 minutes remaining.

Tamanosky hit a layup a minute later to put Mansfield up 56-55 with Bloomsburg coming right back to retake the lead.

In all, the lead changed hands or was tied 16 times in the final 11 minutes of the contest.

The game was decided on 3-pointers with Bloomsburg hitting seven on the evening to Mansfield's one.

Carter was outstanding scoring nine of Mansfield's first 11 points and 17 of his career-high 25 points in the first half. Matt Tamanosky had a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds with Cedrick Powell also scored 18 points. Jahyde Gardiner also had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Bloomsburg, which has now won five of its last six games, was led by Christian Mortellite and Yahmir Greenlee with 22 and 21 pints respectively.

Mansfield will host national-ranked Kutztown on Saturday.