MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester men’s basketball team took a break from finals to host #15 Marian University Wednesday night at Platt Arena. After playing within a point of their visitors in the opening 20 minutes, HU couldn’t match an early run to start the second half to find themselves on the losing end of an 86-73 decision by game’s end.

Down 30-29 at halftime, Huntington took its first and only lead of the night 40 seconds into the second stanza on a driving layup by Andrew Yoder for a 31-30 tilt. Unfortunately, the Knights, behind Wes Stowers’ seven points, reeled off 12 of the game’s next 14 points to surge back on top 42-33 by the 16:35 mark.

TJ Henderson picked up where Stowers left off to score ten points over the next three minutes to balloon his team’s lead to 14, 54-40. With plenty of game to be played, Platt’s crew methodically chipped away at their deficit for a 59-53 difference by the midway point of the period as five different Foresters pitched in on the 13-5 run.

It was another three-minute push by Marian’s guards to cushion the lead back to double digits where it would stay the rest of the way. Stowers and Henderson teamed up to account for 35 of their team’s second half scoring to safeguard the win.

Zac Owens and Caleb Middlesworth were the Foresters’ main source of offense as they scored 19 and 18 points respectively. They combined to go 14-for-23 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the line. Konner Platt dropped in ten as the only other HU player to land in double figures. Owens and Nick Macon each passed out five assists while Peyton West corralled a team-best seven rebounds.

Henderson finished with 24 points to top all scorers. Stowers added 23 points. Kissoonlal tossed in 14 points while Cameron Wolter tallied 12 to go along with a game-best eight boards.

In the first half, Huntington spotted Marian a six-point lead before Middlesworth’s reverse spin on 6-11 Reggie Kissoonlal made for an easy lay-in four minutes in. While Marian would go on to score the next four points for an eight-point advantage, no more than two possessions separated the two teams in the final 15 minutes of the half. Platt’s crew would force two ties in the latter part of period before heading into the locker room down by a point.

The two teams came into the evening with the exact same records as Huntington now drops to 9-4 overall, 2-3 in CL action while the Knights improve to 10-3 overall, 3-2 in league play.

Next up for the Foresters is a non-conference clash with IU Northwest on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.