West Chester Tops Bloomsburg, 88-82; Tied For Second In East

Box Score

WEST CHESTER, Pa. –  West Chester's Cory Blake (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) scored a team-high 22 points, 16 in the second half, to lift the Golden Rams over visiting Bloomsburg, 88-82 inside Hollinger Field House Wednesday night.
 
With the win, West Chester (14-11, 12-7 PSAC) move in a tie for second place in the PSAC East, after Kutztown fell to Lock Haven by two earlier in the night. Bloomsburg falls to 9-13 overall and 5-13 in conference play.
 
It seemed like a 3-point competition at the outset of the match as both teams combined to make their first five 3-point attempts. The Golden Rams trailed, 9-6, with every point coming from beyond the arc, when head coach Damien Blair took a timeout to slow the Huskies' rhythm. West Chester responded with an 18-0 spurt to go up 24-9 as the Huskies were held scoreless for over 11 minutes, committing 10 turnovers in the process.
 
The Huskies battled back to be down by as many as four in the early moments of the second half. However, West Chester answered with four straight layups to stretch the lead to 13 and hang on the rest of the way.
 
Bloomsburg's Christian Mortellite scored a career-high 37 points, including 22-points in the first half, to send the visitors into the locker room down by nine. He scored the most points in a single game by a Bloomsburg player in over 14 years.
 
Mike Wilson (Philadelphia, Pa. /Martian Luther King) scored 11 points in the first half, including 3-of-4 from 3-point land as the Golden Rams combined for 58-percent from long range. He finish with 13 points overall, to go with four rebounds and four steals. Ben Mingledough (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) contributed 12 points, three rebounds and two steals to put the game away.
 
Matt Wiseley (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) had an all-around good game, putting up nine points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Teammate Parrish Grant (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) scored eight points to go with a team-high six assists and five rebounds. Avery Brown (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) and Thomas White (Chester, Pa./Penn Wood) each provided eight points as well to the balanced effort.
 
Huskies' Jon Riles followed Mortellite with 20 points. Charles Haigler chipped in with 10 points to round out the double-digit scoring for Bloomsburg.
 
With the win, the Golden Rams extended their current winning streak to seven in a row and will now have a week to prepare for a showdown against PSAC East leader East Stroudsburg next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. with crucial seeding implications on the line.