Josh Omojafo
Taylor Brown
128
Winner Gannon Gannon 6-0,1-0 PSAC
113
Bloomsburg BU 2-3,0-1 PSAC
Winner
Gannon Gannon
6-0,1-0 PSAC
128
Final
113
Bloomsburg BU
2-3,0-1 PSAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Gannon Gannon 68 60 128
Bloomsburg BU 57 56 113

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Gannon Eclipses Century Mark for Fourth Time While Opening PSAC Play with 128-113 Win at Bloomsburg

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Gannon men's basketball team entered its PSAC opener at Bloomsburg leading Division II in scoring. When they left Nelson Field House they had done nothing to endanger that ranking. Gannon outscored the Huskies 128-113 to improve to 6-0 on the season. The Huskies dropped to 2-3.
Head coach Jordan Fee has now won his first six games as head coach. That is tied for the second-best start by a Gannon coach. Jerry Slocum also won his first six games in 1996-97 and Dick Fox won six in a row in 1978-79. Ed Sparling holds the record with eight wins in 1974-75.

Gannon has now scored 100-or-more points in four of its first six games and has reached 60-or-more points in a half seven times in a possible 12 halves. The school record for 100-point games in a season is six in 1968-69. The last time Gannon had four games of 100-or-more points occurred in 1996-97.

Despite the high-scoring nature of the game Saturday's contest had little flow as 55 fouls were called and the teams combined for 76 free throws. Gannon went 37-of-49 at the charity stripe, both figures coming up one short of the school record. In the 2007-08 season the Golden Knights went 38-of-50 at the line vs. Hilldsale.  

Gannon also had something that hasn't occurred in a number of seasons. Three players scored 20-or-more points, with Josh Omojafo (Hamilton, Ontario/St. Jean de Brebeuf) leading the way with a career-high 33 points. The 6'5" sophomore made 10-of-15 field goals, including his lone 3-point attempt, and was 12-of-15 at the line.

Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Philadelphia Montgomery Christian Academy) and Derrick James (Columbus, Ohio/Canal Winchester) also reached the 20-point plateau with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Tipton was 7-of-11 from the floor, going 2-of-5 on 3-pointers, and was 5-of-8 at the line. James was 6-of-8 from the floor, including a perfect 3-of-3 on 3-pointers, and was also 5-of-8 at the line. The sophomore guard added eight assists and four steals.

Six Golden Knights scored in double digits. Zachary Hobbs (Gilbert, Ariz./Gilbert) fell just shy of the 20-point mark with 18 points, going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. Nathan Schneider (Kersey, Pa./St. Marys Area) contributed 12 points, mostly from the line where he was 10-of-12, and freshman Mike Montano (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) totaled 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Bloomsburg featured five players in double figures with Erie native Matt Bengel leading the way with 28 points. The Mercyhurst Prep product had 28 points. Raphael Castillo came off the bench to score 20 points.

Gannon shot 50 percent or better from the floor for the fourth time in six games, finishing at 51.9 percent (40-of-77). That included an 11-for-24 chart from beyond the arc. Bloomsburg shot even better from the floor at 57.4 percent (39-of-68), and the Huskies were 12-of-28 on 3-pointers. They also spent plenty of time at the line, going 23-of-27.

The Golden Knights won the rebound battle 41-33 and forced 25 turnovers while committing 16. They held a wide 38-16 advantage in points off turnovers and had 13 steals.

Fee's squad never trailed in the game and built a double-digit lead at 12-2 less than two minutes into the game. A 9-0 run later in the half saw the lead expand to 27-9, and it reached 43-22 midway through the half.

Gannon maintained the 21-point advantage at 52-31 before a 13-4 Huskies' run closed the gap to 56-44. Bloomsburg refused to go away and cut the deficit to eight points on two occasions before the teams went to halftime with Gannon holding a 68-57 advantage.

Bloomsburg scored the opening basket of the second half to pull to within nine, but Gannon eventually built the lead back to 84-64 with 15 minutes left in the game. Gannon reached the 100-point mark with 9:28 left in the game on a Tipton 3-pointer. The teams spent a good deal of time the rest of the night shooting free throws.

Gannon figures to face its toughest test to date on Saturday when the Golden Knights head further east to play at East Stroudsburg. The Warriors improved to 5-0 with a one-point win over Mercyhurst on Friday. The PSAC East preseason favorite, they are ranked 14th in Division II.     
 
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