MEN’S BASKETBALL

Today’s finish was a perfect ending to the regular season for seniors Mike Bush, Trevor Lockwood, Devon Merder and Kyle Platt as they led the HU men’s basketball team to a 95-87 win over Mount Vernon (17-13, 9-9) in their final game in Platt Arena.

The Foresters are currently 17-13 overall, 9-9 in league play. The W secures HU the fifth spot in the final conference standings, four spots ahead of where they were predicted to finish as voted on by the league coaches this fall. Platt’s crew will travel to 4th-seeded Marian on opening night of the tourney slated for Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

HU heads into postseason playing their best basketball of the year having tallied wins in seven of their last ten outings. In those ten contests, Platt’s crew is averaging over 90 points and shooting over 53 percent from the field. Today they were even more impressive as they connected on 56.7 percent of their shots (34-for-60) which included knocking down a season-tying 15 triples.

Platt’s three leading scorers posted big numbers. For the second straight contest, Konner Platt dropped in 28 points. He also collected six rebounds and three assists. Tyler Arens came off the bench to pour in 25 points, 21 of which came in the final twenty minutes, to go along with a team-best nine rebounds.

Mike Bush logged 18 points and 13 assists for his fourth consecutive double double, tenth of the year. The 5-7 playmaker continues to lead the nation in assists with his 8.5 average. Devon Merder also landed in double digits with 11 points in addition to snagging three steals and doling out two assists.

The lead toggled back and forth several times before Konner Platt buried his second of four long balls seven minutes into the game for a 13-12 HU advantage. It was the last lead change as Huntington protected their advantage the rest of the way.

The Foresters’ defense limited the Cougars to just 28 first half points to make for a comfortable 42-28 lead by the midway point. Mount Vernon, on average, puts at least 81 points on the board so it was no surprise that they came out of halftime ready to prove their offensive prowess.

Brett Vipperman led the charge with 20 second half points. His team finished the frame with 59 points but it would only make a six-point dent into their deficit by game’s end. The Cougars would shrink the gap to two possessions on multiple occasions throughout the final twenty minutes, but they would get no closer as Huntington always had an answer in either Bush, Arens or Platt as the trio combined for 48 of their team’s 53 second half points.

Vipperman finished with 26 points in addition to recording a game-best 11 boards and team-high five assists. Jevon Knox and Austin Jones both came off the bench to net 19 and 15 points respectively. Jacob Paul rounded out his team’s double-digit scoring with 14 points.

Mount Vernon finished 34-for-73 from the field for 46.6 percent which included going 10-for-34 from downtown. They were perfect from the charity stripe for nine points and committed eight turnovers to HU’s 13. The Foresters enjoyed the slight advantage on the glass 37-33.