SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Junior Abe Massaley's driving layup with 0.8 seconds remaining Saturday lifted the Shippensburg University men's basketball team to a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament first-round victory over Bloomsburg, 80-78, inside a raucous Heiges Field House.
 
The playoff victory by Shippensburg (19-8) is the first for the program since the 2005-2006 season. Although the Raiders never trailed, Bloomsburg (17-10) tied the game on a three-pointer by Christian Mortellite with 7.3 seconds remaining.
 
Raiders' head coach Chris Fite opted against calling a timeout, allowing Massaley to try and win the game himself. The junior point guard dribbled the length of the floor before blowing by his defender with a crossover at the left wing and knifing his way to the bucket to finish with his right hand.
 
Bloomsburg's half-court heave missed wide left, sealing the Raiders' advancement in the PSAC Tournament. SU will face PSAC East top seed Kutztown Tuesday in the quarterfinals.
 
Massaley finished with a team-high 17 points while tying a career high with 11 assists. He had six assists in the first six and half minutes as the Raiders jumped out to a 24-13 lead. SU made 10 of its first 12 shots.
 
The Raiders led by as many as 16 points in the first half, but Bloomsburg scored the final six points of the half to cut the SU lead to 10, 47-37, at half.
 
Bloomsburg slowly clawed back in the game behind the shooting of Mortellite and Tyriek Steward. The duo combined for 44 points on 14-of-26 shooting. Steward led all scorers with 28 points off the BU bench.
 
Massaley's 11^th assist of the afternoon was a dish to sophomore Dustin Sleva, who buried a three-pointer to put the Raiders up 75-64 with 3:34 remaining. Sleva was huge for SU, scoring 16 points and grabbing 16 rebounds to post his PSAC-best 16^th double-double of the season.
 
However, Steward scored the next 11 points for Bloomsburg in an 11-2 run that brought the Huskies within two points with 16 seconds remaining. Massaley made 1-of-2 free throws with 15 seconds remaining before Mortellite came off a dribble handoff to hit a game-tying triple from the left wing.
 
But as Massaley did earlier in the season in a win over Seton Hill, he quickly, but calmly made his move to win the game.
 
"Abe's done it before, and I have faith in him," Fite said. "I felt like we had just as good a chance letting Abe play…I trust Abe with the ball in his hands."
 
"Seven seconds is a long time," Massaley said. "I came down and saw 1-on-1 and I went right by my man. I just saw the Red Sea parted and the rest was history."
 
The Raiders had four players in double figures, including Massaley, Sleva, senior Tony Ellis and sophomore Justin McCarthur.
 
Ellis was fantastic in posting his second double-double of the season, consisting of 10 points and 11 rebounds. McCarthur continued his consistent scoring off the SU bench by adding 12 points.
 
Saturday was especially special for the older members of Shippensburg program, who were a part of an SU squad that posted a 3-23 record two years ago – Massaley's freshman year.
 
"I'm a firm believer of hard work," Massaley said. "When you work hard, it's going to pay off eventually and that's what we've been doing since day one."
 
The win was also Fite's first career playoff win as a head coach.
 
"When we came three years ago, we had a vision as to what we wanted to get done," Fite said. "I couldn't be more proud of this team and how hard these guys have worked. To have playoff basketball here in Shippensburg, and actually get a win and get to the quarterfinals, I'm really, really happy.
 
"We're not done yet."
 
Tuesday's PSAC quarterfinal game between Shippensburg and Kutztown will begin at 7 p.m. from Keystone Arena.