MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester men’s basketball team played within a few possessions of #5 Indiana Wesleyan (24-4, 13-3) Saturday afternoon on the Wildcats’ home turf but came up short 104-98 Saturday afternoon to suffer a second straight loss to the Wildcats this season.

The loss drops Platt’s crew to 16-12 on the year, 6-10 in CL action. With two regular season games remaining, the Foresters are currently seventh in the league standings.

Things were at a stalemate, 44-44, after the first 20 minutes. Zac Owens led the charge for HU with ten points. Both teams shots over 50.0 percent from the field with HU dropping in 21 points from deep to IWU’s 12. The Wildcats also made two less field goals but made up for those points from the line where they went a perfect 8-for-8 while HU got to the stripe just once.

The lead toggled back and forth in the opening five minutes before the Foresters gradually captured and then held onto an advantage until just before intermission. HU jumped in front by as many as seven points twice – at the midway point and then again with just under eight minutes left in the frame. IWU closed to within a single possession with three minutes left in the half before Joel Okafor buried a three with :40 seconds to go to force the game’s fifth tie.

Huntington would enjoy one final advantage early in the second half on Konner Platt’s long ball after which the Wildcats climbed in front for good. The Foresters kept within the striking distance through the first ten minutes as just seven points, IWU’s largest lead up to that point, separated the two teams at that point. Unfortunately, rebounding got the best of HU as eight of the Wildcats’ next 16 points were second chance points.

The lead went from seven to 18 over a six-minute stretch for a 92-74 difference with just under four minutes to go. The Foresters made one more push to whittle it back to two possessions with :25 seconds remaining but time eventually got the best of the visitors.

The final four minutes saw Platt’s crew drain six threes – two apiece from Peyton West, Platt and Andrew Yoder. For the game, HU finished with a season-tying 18 triples.

The Wildcats took full advantage of their size to outscore the much smaller Foresters 48-36 in the paint in addition to cashing in on 14 offensive boards for 19 points while limiting HU to four offensive rebounds for five points. Wesleyan got to the line 27 times to HU’s eight. The Foresters’ bench outplayed IWU 15-4.

Owens finished with 24 points and six assists to pace Huntington. Platt added 21 points. West collected 19 points, a team-best seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Caleb Middlesworth and Yoder netted 15 and 11 points respectively.

The league’s leading scorer Kyle Mangas poured in 38 points, his fourth 30+ point game of the year, to go along with eight rebounds. Grant Smith, who entered the game tossing in under ten points per night, erupted for a career-best 31 points as the duo accounted for nearly two-thirds of their team’s offense. Other double-digit scorers for IWU included Evan Maxwell with 17 and Okafor with 11.

HU is back in action Tuesday to face Grace on the road at 7:00 p.m.