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MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester men’s basketball team picked up its second win over a ranked opponent by disposing of #16 IU East, 93-80, Tuesday evening at Platt Arena. HU’s first win over a top 25 team was on November 10 when they outlasted then-ranked #14 Bellevue, 81-78, to win the Ness Bros. Hall of Fame Tournament.

Tonight’s contest saw IU East (9-6) hold two brief leads in the opening two minutes before the Foresters took charge the rest of the way. Freshman Caleb Middlesworth dropped in his first of five threes at the 17:36 mark to give his team the permanent lead at 6-4.

It was the start of a 15-3 run that featured two more long balls – one more Andrew Yoder and the other from Tyler Arens – for a quick 18-7 advantage with just under 14 minutes remaining in the frame. While the Red Wolves responded with eight unanswered points to trim it to three at 18-15, HU spent the rest of the half building a 41-28 cushion by the break.

HU’s bread and butter came from downtown as they finished out the period with five more triples on the way to scoring 27 points from deep in the opening twenty minutes. Just about the time IU East tightened up defensively on one sharp-shooter, someone else would drain another trey as six different Foresters scored from beyond the arc.

It was more of the same in second half as Huntington canned seven more three-pointers in the first 15 minutes to grow their advantage to 22, 80-58, with 5:21 remaining. While the Red Wolves would close out the game by outscoring their hosts by nine, they never sliced the lead to single digits as HU cruised to their seventh double digit W of the year.

Platt’s crew finished with a season-high 17 threes. Yoder and Middlesworth led the charge by each burying five. Between the two, they finished 10-for-13 from long range but it was Konner Platt who enjoyed top scoring honors. The junior guard finished with 21 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists.

Middlesworth added 19 points while Yoder tallied 17. Arens and Zac Owens also landed in double figures by scoring 14 and ten points respectively. Peyton West led HU in rebounding with six. He also handed out four assists and swiped two steals.

Bishop Smith topped the Red Wolves with 25 points and seven assists. Jaylen McKay poured in 18 points and Nate Niehoff came off the bench to add ten.

With this win, HU improves to 10-5 on the year. They like playing in the friendly confines of Platt Arena as evidenced by enjoying a 7-3 record on their home turf. Next up is their sixth straight game at home on Thursday when they host Ohio University Chillicothe at noon.