CALIFORNIA (Nov. 22) – The Vulcans finished their weekend homestand by suffering an 81-75 loss against Bloomsburg in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Crossover action on Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
With the loss, the California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team drops to 1-4 overall behind a 1-2 mark in conference action. Meanwhile, the Huskies improve to 3-1 on the year with a 2-0 record in league play.
Sophomore
Luka Andjusic (Belgrade, Serbia/Borislav Petrov Brace) led the team with 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting while playing 28 minutes. Senior
Richard Smith (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran East) recorded 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds and was also five-of-five from the free-throw line, while classmate
Khalil Jabbie (Alexandria, Va./Edison) tallied a game-high seven assists.
The two teams began the first half trading baskets before the Vulcans took an early 7-4 lead after consecutive baskets by Andjusic with 16:38 remaining in the half. The Huskies responded by scoring 14-unanswered points to take an 18-7 lead with 11:34 left in the period. After breaking the stretch with two-straight baskets by Andjusic, Bloomsburg responded by going on a 15-2 run that lasted almost five minutes to increase its lead to 33-14 with 5:23 remaining in the half. Cal U was able to make five of its last eight shots of the half to cut the deficit to 40-24 at halftime.
The second half saw the two teams trading scoring chances for the opening six minutes of the half until Bloomsburg took a 54-36 lead with 14:01 remaining. The Vulcans answered by going on a 14-4 run that lasted six minutes, capped by a layup from sophomore
Tony Richardson (Sterling, Va./Dominion), to cut the lead to 58-50 with 7:58 remaining. Cal U continued to pressure the Huskies and shot three-of-four from the floor and three-of-six from the line to cut the deficit to 64-59 after a layup by Andjusic with 4:05 remaining. The two teams traded scores until a dunk from Smith brought the score to 71-66 in favor of Bloomsburg with 1:12 remaining in regulation. The Huskies were able to make 10-of-10 from the free-throw line to close out the game, 81-75.
The Vulcans shot 43.5 percent (30-of-69) after shooting only 11-of-33 in the first half. Meanwhile, Bloomsburg finished at a 43.4 clip (23-of-53) from the floor. The Huskies out-rebounded Cal U by a 40-33 margin.
Sophomore Christian Mortellite collected a game-high 26 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Junior Malik Sneed posted a game-high 10 rebounds and also registered a double-double with 10 points. Bloomsburg had five players score in double-digits in the win.
The Vulcans are idle for a week before returning to action on Sunday, Nov. 29, against Penn State-Fayette in the Convocation Center at 3 p.m.
