MEN’S BASKETBALL

Despite holding their visitors 23 points below their season average, the Forester men’s basketball team still came up short, 69-56, to Marian University Saturday afternoon at Platt Arena.

The Knights entered the contest ranked 9th in the NAIA in scoring with their 92-point average and while HU was able to hold them to their second lowest point total of the season, Platt’s crew struggled at the other end of the floor playing without their leading scorer in Tyler Arens.

Huntington shot 36.7 percent from the field (22-for-60) which included going 3-for-17 from deep with two players finishing in double digits. Trevor Lockwood paced his team with 20 points and three blocks while Konner Platt added 12 points. Devon Merder grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out four assists to lead HU in both categories.

Reggie Kissoonlal, standing at 6-11, poured in 19 points and corralled 13 rebounds for Marian for his second double double of the year. Wes Stowers recorded 16 points and a game-best eight assists. Sterling Brown chipped in ten points.

Marian dropped in 37.5 percent of their shots (27-for-72) and outscored their hosts 21-9 behind the arc. They outrebounded HU 53-35.

The Foresters got off to a great start with each starter scoring within the first six minutes to open up a ten-point advantage of 16-6.

Unfortunately, the Knights spent the next four minutes posting ten unanswered points for the game’s third tie at 16-16. HU would regain the lead at 20-16 on back-to-back buckets by Lockwood but another visitor push forced the fourth and final tie at 20s at the 7:39 mark en route to a 31-28 Marian lead heading into the break.

Lockwood scored down low within the first 15 seconds of the second period to reduce the lead to just one but seven straight points by Marian upped the lead to eight at 38-30 after which Mason Coverstone dropped in a three and two minutes later scored again on a put back to cut the lead to two possessions each time.

But it was all Marian after that as HU didn’t have an answer for Kissoonlal who scored seven of his team’s next nine points to give MU its largest lead of the day up to that point at 50-37 with just under 12 minutes to go. The lead remained in double digits for all but 45 seconds the rest of the way to make for a relatively quiet finish.

The Knights, one of the hottest teams in the league right now, have won six of their last seven outings to improve to 14-6 overall, 4-4 in league play.

The Foresters (6-14, 2-6) will look to snap their eight-game losing skid on Tuesday when they host Goshen at 7:00 p.m. in second round action of league play.