Score one for the good guys

 Coming into Monday night’s match-up against Penn State- Hazleton, the Bloomsburg men’s basketball team was in a tough situation. After an 0-3 start, the Huskies were in what could be called a must-win situation against a team that was clearly not anywhere near as good as Bloomsburg. But after dropping the first three games, the Huskies took no one for granted and went on to score a dominating 75-44 win over PSU-Hazleton.

            On the night when the Huskies officially opened their newly renovated Nelson Field House, the story of this one was the big man in the middle, 6-7 sophomore Larry Webster led the way for the Huskies at both ends of the court, finishing with 21 points while reeling in 11 rebounds. The Huskies pounced on PSU- Hazelton early and often, dominating the first ten minutes of the game opening up with a 19-3 run. “I thought we executed well. On the offensive end we were able to get easy looks inside and get our big men involved early and score for us in the post,” said the Huskies guard and team captain Jesse Betar. 

            As has been the problem all year for Bloomsburg, at some point or another in each and every game, they let their opponents go on a scoring streak of themselves which cut the Bloomsburg lead to 11 points at 33-22 near the end of the first half.  It was the big man in the middle, Webster, who provided a positive boost to get the Huskies back on track right before the half, with a well timed tip in just before the horn sounded to give the Huskies a 13 point lead heading into intermission.

            The second half was much of the same story for the Huskies, who were stop and go for most of it.  The second half started in dominating fashion as Webster, Ed Hall and Jesse Betar put the pedal to the metal, pushing the Huskies lead up to 19 points.  Yet again, the Huskies forgot to bring the defense for a four minute stretch in the middle of the second half, which saw PSU-Hazleton go on a run themselves to cut the lead back down to 11 with just under 14 minutes left in the game. “Something we’d like to work on is our overall defense, it needs to get better, it has to get better,” said Betar.  But on this night, the Huskies were not to be challenged as they went on their biggest run of the year, victimizing PSU-Hazleton with a 22-4 outburst that sealed the deal once and for all to give the Huskies their first victory of the season.  In addition to the big night by Webster, Hall continued his streak of double digit scoring outputs with 11 points, while swingman Trevon Johnson also ended up in double digit scoring for the Huskies with 10.

            The win was an impressive one by the Huskies, who showed that they can score with anybody on any given night.  With Webster and Hall in the middle, if the Huskies can eliminate their self inflicting defensive walkabouts, they have a legitimate chance to right the ship and get back to .500 or above for the season.  The Huskies next opponent will be Wilmington tonight with the tip-off set for 7p.m. at Nelson Field House.