MEN’S BASKETBALL

Playing in the friendly confines of Platt Arena, the HU men’s basketball team disposed of Taylor University 89-83 Tuesday night for their first league win of the season. With this W, Platt’s crew improves to 8-3 overall, 1-2 in CL action.

With this loss, the Trojans drop to 4-7 overall, 2-2 in conference play. Taylor came in hot having downed #5 Marian 80-71 a week ago and then upsetting #23 Spring Arbor 73-67 over the weekend.

The Foresters turned in their first six possessions for 12 points to double up their visitors 12-6 just over three minutes into the contest. The quick start made for a permanent advantage on a night where HU had an answer, mostly from long range, every time the Trojans made a surge.

Huntington finished with a season-high 14 triples with five different Foresters logging at least two. Peyton West was a perfect 3-for-3 from long range with each of them coming at critical times. He buried his first seconds before halftime to break-up a 7-2 Taylor run and send his team into the locker room with a 42-29 advantage.

Long ball #2 countered Evan Crowe’s three at the midway point of the final stanza and interrupted another TU run, this time an 8-2 spurt that had whittled the lead to single digits for the first time since the midway point of the first half. It ignited a scoring spree that ended in Huntington’s largest lead of the night at 74-54 with six minutes to go.

West’s final trifecta came with 3:31 remaining, narrowly staved off a shot clock violation and upped HU’s lead to 79-66. While Taylor pieced together numerous runs over the course of the night, it was their final push, after West’s final three, that proved most dangerous. Down by 13, the visitors spent the next two minutes slashing the lead to just five, 84-79, by the 1:10 mark highlighted by a rare four-point play by Mason Degenkolb.

While it had the makings of an epic comeback, Huntington answered definitively but not by way of the long ball this time. The answer was Caleb Middlesworth around the rim. The 6-8 big man snuck in behind Taylor’s full court press for an easy lay-in and then went 3-for-4 from the charity strip to ward off TU and snap his team’s two-game losing skid.

Middlesworth topped all scorers with 27 points which included knocking down three treys. Zac Owens poured in 21 points and dished out six assists. Konner Platt connected on four of his five attempts from deep on his way to tossing in 14 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Tyler Arens also finished with 14 points.

But it was West who would have garnered player of the game honors had there been such an award. In addition to his nine points, the rookie point guard also collected 11 assists and nine boards to come up a rebound and point shy of the just the second triple double in program history.

As a team, HU handed out a season-high 26 assists on its 33 buckets.

Ryan Robinson finished with 25 points and five assists to lead the Trojans. Degenkolb and James McCloud added 18 and ten points respectively.

The Foresters are back in action on Saturday when they host Grace at 3:00 p.m.