Box Score Bloomsburg, Pa. - Bloomsburg built a 17 point lead at the half and held on to down visiting Millersville 83-77 in Wednesday's PSAC East opener.

Kyle Richardson's 20 points led Millersville (1-2, 0-1 PSAC), and he was supported by Tyree Smith's 15 and Tremaine Bowman's career-high 14. The Marauders stormed back from as many as 19 points down by dropping 48 points in the second half. Millersvile slashed the deficit to three points twice in the final five minutes but Bloomsburg iced the game away late from the free throw line.

The Marauders started slowly and scored more than 40 points in the second half for the third consecutive game. Bloomsburg made 6-of-11 3-pointers and shot a 48 percent from the field, including 58.6 percent in a 46-point first half.

Millersville mustered just 29 points in the first period, leaving a sizeable deficit to overcome. Smith started Millersville's rally just 23 seconds into the second half with a 3-pointer. Tavon Parker's 3-pointer just 3:11 into the period cut Bloom's lead to single digits and he hit another on the next possession to make the score 50-42.

Bloomsburg pushed the lead back to 14 with 9:57 left but the Marauders responded with an 11-3 run that made the score 71-67 when Xavier Mumford scored a lay-up with 5:36 to go. Mumford score again two possessions later to bring the Marauders to within 73-70. Millersville's comeback ran out of steam, though, and it failed to score for more than two minutes. Still within striking distance, though, Bowman scored on a drive and Smith hit one of two from the line with 38 seconds left to make it a one possession game.

That's as close as the Marauders would get, though. Bloomsburg made 5-of-6 foul shots in the final 30 seconds while all Millersville could manage was 1-of-2 free throws from Parker.

Mumford finished with 11 rebounds and three blocks, giving him double-digit boards and at least three blocks in each of the first three games. Bloomsburg placed five players in double figures with Dontahe Jordan leading the way with 18.

Millersville steps out of conference play on Saturday at Goldey-Beacom. Tip is 7 p.m.