BLOOMFIELD, N.J. – The HFU men's basketball team scored 14 straight points to tie the score at 70 with 1:27 to go, only to have a Bloomfield 3-pointer with 17 seconds left turn out to be the game-winner in a loss to the Bears on Saturday afternoon. 
 
Individual Highlights

• Eric Esposito (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell Egan) led Holy Family with a season-best 20 points (8-of 13 field goals), seven rebounds, four assists and a game-high two blocks
• Vernon Johnson (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) also had four assists, to go along 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting off the bench
• Aamir Hurst (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann Goretti) (6-of-11 field goals and 4-of-8 3-pointers) and Malik Archer (Philadelphia, Pa./Mathematics,Civics & Science Charter School (Beaver County CC)) (6-of-6 free throws) added 16 and 15 points, respectively
• Rick'Keem Mixson (Linden, N.J./St. Mary of the Assumption (Raritan Valley CC)) led all players with a career-best three steals, while falling one point shy of making it five Tigers in double-figures

 
Inside the Box Score

• Holy Family made two more field goals (27-25) and 3-pointers (10-8) than Bloomfield, while outscoring the Bears 30-16 in points in the paint and 24-14 in points off turnovers, but BCB made more than triple the amount of free throws (8-25) and outrebounded the Tigers 29-52

 
How it Happened 
First Half

• The opening 17 minutes was played within two possessions, as Holy Family led by three twice and there were five ties
• The final deadlock until the final two minutes came at 22-22 following a Hrust jumper at the 7:20 mark
• Esposito answered a BCB trifecta with a layup, only to have the Bears score six in a row to cap a 2-9 stretch for the first half's largest advantage, 24-31, 2:40 ahead of the break
• David Robinson Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa./Chestnut Hill Academy) responded with a dunk, before Esposito scored five straight HFU points, sandwiching a BCB jumper, to get the Tigers as close as 31-33 on a 3-pointer with 1:36 on the clock
• Bloomfield came back with a four-point play and following a Hurst triple, the Bears closed the first with a basket for a 34-39 cushion

Second Half

• Archer opened the second with a pair of foul shots to pull Holy Family within 36-39, but Bloomfield tallied nine unanswered to establish the first double-digit lead with 17:17 to play
• The lead was still in double-figures at 45-56 entering the final 11 minutes, but Esposito and Johnson hit back-to-back trifectas to make it a two-possession score-line, 51-56, with 9:37 showing
• Johnson's layup less than a minute after also made it 53-58, but the Bears rattled off 11 straight for the largest advantage of the afternoon, 53-69, with just 6:35 left
• That would be Bloomfield's last basket for over six minutes, as after a free throw for a 56-70 cushion, HFU stormed back with the 14 in a row
• Esposito both started and ended the surge, following back-to-back triples by Johnson and Hurst with a layup to knot the score at 70 with 1:27 to go
• The Bears would score their first points in 3:55, a pair of free throws, to momentarily go back ahead 16 seconds later, but a Jake McGonigle (Ocean City, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) offensive rebound led to Archer tying the score once more with 39 seconds remaining
• Bloomfield finally broke its field goal drought though, hitting the eventual game-winning 3-pointer with just 17 seconds on the clock
• Following a Tigers miss, eight BCB foul shots led to the margin of victory

 
Up Next
Holy Family returns home to host Goldey-Beacom on Wednesday at 8 p.m.