PHILADELPHIA, P.A. - Safee Abdus-Sabur (Newark, N.J.) and Nick Davidson (Lumberton, N.J.) each scored 18 points but it was not enough to lift the Bloomfield College men's basketball team over the Rams as they suffered a 79-75 loss Saturday afternoon.

The Bears mounted a valiant comeback in the ESPN3 College Basketball Game of the Week however they fell to 9-11 overall and 8-5 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) battles. Philadelphia University improved to 18-4 with their eighth straight win and 11-2 in league contests.

Davidson scored 6-of-12 from the field while Abus-Sabur netted one more field goal (7-12 FG) as each pulled down 3 rebounds and the freshman added two assists to the stat sheet. Senior Claude Blue (Brooklyn, N.Y.) poured in 17 points (6-12 FG, 5-7 FT), snagged eight boards, two steals and a block. Sophomore Juan Brown (Annapolis, M.D.) rounded out the Bears top scorers with 11 points (4-9 FG, 1-3 3-FG, 2-2 FT), four dishes and a theft in 34 minutes of action.
 
TJ Huggins posted a career-high 29 points and snagged 11 rebounds as his double-double led the Rams on the day.
 
Bloomfield spotting the home team the first five points of the contest before reeling off a 7-2 run to draw even on a Davidson jumper with 16:57 on the clock. The teams tied again at 19-19 with a little over ten minutes to go before the break. Back-to-back buckets from Huggins with 7:20 on the clock began a 20-9 onslaught that featured fifteen points from the Rams leader and opened up a 42-29 advantage at the break.
 
Brown would open the second half with a three-pointer that made it a ten-point game, but PhilaU refused to surrender their double-digit advantage and pushed it to sixteen (56-40) with 13:18 on the clock. With the deficit at twelve nearly three minutes later, the Bears surged ahead for an 18-6 run to draw even at 67-67 and bring their BC fans to their feet as Davidson and Abdus-Sabur combined for 15 points during the stretch.
 
PhilaU had the answer, however, as it crafted an 6-1 counter-run – behind six points from Peter Alexis – to grab a 73-68 lead with 2:05 to go. Abdus-Sabur stepped up with back-to-back fast break layups that pulled Bloomfield within one at 74-73 with 0:26 left after an apparent chink in the Rams armor uncovered two missed free throws from Alexis. Bloomfield fouled the PhilaU center and looked for similar results but the Rams senior sank three-of-four free throws and put the game just out of reach for the Bears.
 
PhilaU outshot Bloomfield, 51.8 percent (29-56) to 46.6 percent (27-58), including 40.0 percent (6-15) to 30.0 percent (3-10) from long distance. The Rams also shot a higher percentage from the line (75.0% – 62.1%) but the Bears sank more free throws (18) than the home team (15) and dominated in the paint, 40-26. The glass went PhilaU's way at 38-25 but the visitors put together a better assist-to-turnover ratio (10/5-15/13) and converted that into 15 points off of Rams mistakes.
 
Bloomfield's next action will come Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. when they play host to Concordia College at the Bloomfield Gymnasium. The Bears will look to return to their winning ways and keep their standing atop the CACC North Division leader board.
 
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