MEN’S BASKETBALL

In their first league contest of the season, the #RV HU men’s basketball team came up short at Saint Francis (6-4, 1-1) to suffer an 80-75 loss Tuesday night at Hutzell Athletic Center

The first half played out more like a ping pong match than a basketball game as the lead traded back and forth seven times. The opening 20 minutes also saw eight deadlocks as both squads jockeyed for any sort of advantage.

HU had the last possession of the frame and Nick Macon made the most of it by burying his third triple of the night with only a few ticks remaining to send his team into the locker room with a one-point lead of 40-39.

The senior point guard scored 11 of his 14 points in the first period. He shared the offensive load with Caleb Middlesworth who poured in 15 first half point on the way to scoring a game-best 28 points. Tyler Arens rounded out HU’ scoring with 15 points to go along with a game-high 11 boards for his fourth double double of the season.

After the two teams swapped buckets to start the second half, Macon and Arens hit back-to-back threes to stretch Huntington’s lead to seven at 48-41 by the 18:11 mark. The visitors would remain in front over the next five minutes but then things took a turn.

A Chandler White bucket in the paint with just over 12 minutes remaining knotted things up at 59s after which the Cougars were perfect on their next three possessions to rattle off eight of the game’s next ten points for a 67-61 advantage.

Andrew Yoder came into the game at the eight-minute mark and was instant offensive for the Foresters. The junior sharp-shooter buried one from deep right away and then spotted up for a second long ball a few possessions later to keep his team within striking distance at 72-69 with just under five minutes to go.

However, everything seemed to fall into place for USF after that as they scored on their next five trips down the floor to build a seven-point cushion of 80-73 with 1:39 to go. While USF missed the front end of two 1-and-1s, their lead was substantial enough to preserve the win as the rim was unkind to the visitors as they could get just one of their last six shots to fall in the final 90 seconds.

Connor Lautzenheiser dropped in a career-tying 27 points which included 15 points from downtown to pace the Cougars. White finished with 18 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Platt’s crew finished with just three turnovers. It is the fewest miscues by a Forester team since December of 2006 when Huntington committed two TOs against Olivet Nazarene.

The Huntington/Saint Francis rivalry is well-documented. Since the 1960s, these two squads have squared off 110 times with tonight’s W for USF tying up the series at 55-55. The Cougar victory also snaps HU’s five-game win streak.

The Foresters, receiving votes in the today’s national poll, moves to 7-2 on the year, 0-1 in the league. They hit the road again on Saturday to take on #6 Mount Vernon at 3:00 p.m.