MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Huntington men’s basketball team picked up their second consecutive win in league play Saturday afternoon at Ariel Arena by topping Mount Vernon Nazarene University 87-83 as they improve to 8-14 overall, 4-6 in CL action.

The Cougars entered the afternoon as one of the hottest teams in the league having won three straight before today’s loss snapped that streak and dropped them 14-8 overall, 6-4 in league play.

The game was up for grabs as evidenced by 12 ties and 14 lead changes as both teams levied for any sort of advantage with the Foresters finally taking charge in the final few minutes of play to slip past their hosts.

HU’s permanent lead came at the 3:40 mark when Trevor Lockwood scored two of his 21 points to give his team a 75-74 advantage. It was the start of eight unanswered points and proved to by Huntington’s biggest lead, 80-74, with 2:34 remaining.

MVNU fought back to pull within two 30 seconds later but the Foresters stood their ground. While HU missed just four free throws on the day, three of those misses came in a 45-second stretch that started at the 1:22 mark. However, Platt’s crew made up for those misses by way of their defense that posted back-to-back stops. The result was a five-point spread with 24 ticks remaining.

The Foresters were nails at the line after that as Konner Platt and Mike Bush each drained a pair of freebies to ensure the win as HU moves to 6-1 when playing on the Cougars’ turf.

“I am really pleased with our effort again today,” said Coach Ty Platt. “Our guys played with a lot of poise, confidence and grit.

“Wins are hard to get, especially in the Crossroads League. Today was a good day.”

While wins don’t come easy in this league, they’re even tougher on the road which is where two of HU’s four CL Ws have come from.

Huntington had a plethora of impressive performances offensively with known bigger than Platt. The 6-2 guard poured in a season-high 29 points to serve as his team’s constant throughout the contest. He finished with five of Huntington’s seven threes and shot nearly 60 percent from the field to lead HU to one of its most efficient offensive outings of the year.

As a team, the Foresters shot 52.5 percent from the field (31-for-59) and nailed 18 of their 22 free throw attempts for 81.8 percent. They committed just 11 miscues and tracked down 32 rebounds, the same as their hosts.

In addition to Lockwood’s 21 points, the 6-8 center also collected a team-high eight rebounds to go along with a career-best four assists and a career-tying four blocks.

Zac Owens also had the best showing of his young career. The 5-11 rookie poured in 16 points. He was instant offense in the first half. He scored nine points in a four-minute span to wrap up a drawn out run that saw HU turn an eight-point deficit of 26-14 at the midway point into a 31-28 advantage with four minutes left in the frame before a halftime score of 38-38.

Coach Platt had plenty of good things to say about his team. “We had some individual performances that were special. Konner played very well and was extremely efficient.

“Trevor was a force inside both offensively and defensively and Zac really grew up today. We expect big things from him in the future and he gave everybody a glimpse of what he is capable of from here on out.”

The Foresters will have a second crack at #11 Bethel on Tuesday night. Tip-off with the Pilots at 7:00 p.m. in Gates Gymnasium.