RELEASE DATE: 1/25/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Cardiac Mounties Hold on For 91-90 Win at Bloom – Remain in First Place in PSAC East

Bloomsburg – Brandon DeShields two free throws with :23 remaining proved to be the margin over victory as PSAC East leading Mansfield held on for a 91-90 over Bloomsburg in a PSAC East contest at Nelson Fieldhouse Wednesday night.

“We didn’t have trouble scoring, but we couldn’t stop anyone,” said head coach Rich Miller. “We knew that if we could work the ball inside good things would happen and when we did that we were success. We were able to do that when we had Carlos (Collazo) in there, but things changed a little bit when he fouled out.”

DeShields free throws gave Mansfield a 91-88 lead before Bloomsburg’s Matt Jefferson cut it to 91-90 on a layup with six seconds remaining. Bloomsburg fouled John Hampton one second later and Hampton missed the front end of a one-and-one but stole the ball off a Bloomsburg rebound to preserve the win.

Mansfield built a game high 29-19 lead nine minutes into the game on a 3-pointer by freshman Chris Greene. Bloomsburg would rally taking a 46-45 lead on a 3-pointer by Marion Rose with 1:27 before halftime but Mansfield would come back to take a 50-46 advantage into intermission.

The second half would feature 11 ties or lead changes as both teams battled through foul trouble in the fast paced contest. Bloomsburg held a 74-70 lead nine minutes into the second half before Mansfield rallied to take the lead for good on a free throw by Andrae Martin for a 79-78 lead with 5:44 to go.

The Mountaineers pounded the ball inside to Carlos Collazo and Martin to lead by as much as 87-80 with 3:30 to go, but things changed with Collazo fouled our with just under two minutes to play.

Collazo scored 13 of his team high 19 points in the second half and also pulled down eight rebounds. Martin added 16 points and eight boards with David Hoopes scoring 14 points and Chris Greene 13.

Four Bloomsburg players combined for 84 of their 90 points led by Billy Bryan and Matt Jefferson with 23 each. Steve Cunningham added 21 points and Marion Rose 17.

Bloomsburg shot 51.6% to Mansfield’s 44.4% but the Mountaineers held a 47-32 rebounding advantage including 22-6 margin on the offensive glass. It marks the eighth time this season the Mountaineers have been a game decided by three or less points.

Mansfield remains in first place in the PSAC East with a 3-0 mark and sets up a battle with Kutztown, which fell out of a first place tie with Mansfield after suffering a 72-70 to West Chester, on Saturday at Decker Gymnasium.

Newspaper Box Score

Mansfield University vs Bloomsburg University

01/25/06 7:30 p.m. at Bloomsburg, PA

At Bloomsburg, PA

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY 91, BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY 90

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY (8-9, 3-0 PSAC E)

COLLAZO, Carlos 7-12 5-6 19; MARTIN, Andrae 7-11 2-4 16; GREENE, Chris 5-9

1-1 14; HOOPES, David 5-13 0-0 13; DESHIELDS, Brandon 2-12 4-4 9; MORTIMER,

Denny 2-5 5-7 9; HAMPTON, John 2-4 0-1 5; HILL, Kevin 1-3 0-0 3; KRESS,

Justin 1-3 1-6 3. Totals 32-72 18-29 91.

BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY (4-15, 0-4 PSAC E)

BRYAN, Billy 9-17 3-3 23; JEFFERSON, Matt 8-16 7-8 23; CUNNINGHAM, Seve 7-8

6-7 21; ROSE, Marion 6-11 2-2 17; CHEATLE, Mike 2-9 0-0 6; HOLSEY, Brian 0-1

0-0 0. Totals 32-62 18-20 90.

Mansfield University..........   50   41  -   91

Bloomsburg University.........   46   44  -   90

3-point goals-Mansfield University 9-21 (GREENE, Chris 3-5; HOOPES, David

3-9; HILL, Kevin 1-2; HAMPTON, John 1-1; DESHIELDS, Brandon 1-4), Bloomsburg

University 8-18 (ROSE, Marion 3-5; BRYAN, Billy 2-5; CHEATLE, Mike 2-7;

CUNNINGHAM, Seve 1-1). Fouled out--Mansfield University-COLLAZO, Carlos,

Bloomsburg University-None. Rebounds-Mansfield University 47 (COLLAZO,

Carlos 8; MARTIN, Andrae 8), Bloomsburg University 32 (JEFFERSON, Matt 8).

Assists-Mansfield University 18 (DESHIELDS, Brandon 7), Bloomsburg

University 12 (ROSE, Marion 6). Total fouls-Mansfield University 19,

Bloomsburg University 21. A-287