The Shippensburg University men’s basketball team was unable to find much success on the offensive end of the court on Wednesday night, as the Raiders fell to Bloomsburg, 75-54 from Nelson Field House.
The 54 points are the second-fewest SU has scored in a game this season. The Raiders, who lead the PSAC in field goal percentage, shot just 22 percent from the field in the first half. SU was down just five at halftime, however, as Bloomsburg countered with a 41 percent clip from the field in the half.
The Huskies turned on the heat in the second half, however, as they shot 64 percent and out-scored the Raiders, 53-37 in the final frame. Dylan Edgar scored a team-high 14 points, while Dane Lauber added 11 points and a career-high eight assists off the bench. Sam Pygatt scored nine points off the pine on 4-of-4 shooting.
Will Royal led SU with six rebounds in addition to six points. Each team struggled to find the bottom of the net in the first half, as a difficult under-hand layup from Pygatt gave SU an 8-4 lead halfway through the first half.
Bloomsburg went on a 10-2 run to grab a 14-10 lead with 3:32 remaining, however. BU outscored SU 8-7 from there, as the Raiders used buckets from Royal and Edgar, as well as a running floater from Reggie Charles just before the buzzer, to close the half down 22-17.
The Huskies opened up the second half on an 8-2 run to grab a 30-19 lead at the 16:54 mark of the half.
BU would eventually extend its lead to 21, up 50-29 halfway through the half, as SU would fail to get closer than 17 the rest of the way. Bloomsburg did not attempt a free throw until 4:41 remaining in the contest. Earlier this season, SU held Slippery Rock to a similar drought, as the Rock did not attempt a free throw until there was 6:24 remaining in SRU’s 61-52 win on Jan. 7.
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