MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester men’s basketball team drew the short end of the stick in a 100-94 OT decision at St. Thomas University (8-2) Friday afternoon at the Fernandez Family Center. It was HU’s first overtime contest of the year as they drop to 7-6 overall.

The outcome wasn’t at all indicative of how the majority of contest was trending. Platt and crew raced out to a 7-1 lead within the opening two minutes and pressed on to build a 46-32 advantage by intermission. Caleb Middlesworth and Konner Platt teamed up to lead the first half charge by scoring 14 and 11 points respectively.

As a team, the Foresters sizzled the nets to the tune of 64.3 percent from the field which included going 5-for-9 from deep in the opening 20 minutes.

Huntington showed no signs of slowing down by widening the gap to as many as 24 at 69-45 by the midway point of the second frame. It was a six-minute stretch that allowed the Foresters to seemingly grow a lead that wouldn’t be touched as they limited their hosts to just three points while reeling off 14 points.

Still holding on to a 17-point lead, 80-63, with five minutes remaining, things started going sideways for HU. Untimely turnovers and missed shots haunted the visitors while at the other end of the hardwood, the Bobcats buried back-to-back-to-back triples to turn what was a blowout into a seven-point game at 82-75 by the 2:39 mark. After that, everything fell into place for St. Thomas for an 85-85 deadlock in regulation.

The Bobcats took their first lead of the day on the opening possession of OT after which Platt connected on a traditional three-point play and Peyton West posted a basketball version of a pick six with a steal and layup to reclaim a 90-87 advantage for HU.

Unfortunately, three freebies by STU’s Antoine Joe halfway through overtime gave his team what proved a permanent lead of 93-92 that they then grew to six by the final buzzer for the come-from-behind victory.

Platt finished with a team-best 27 points. Middlesworth added 21 while West came off the bench to toss in 11 points and grab a team-best seven rebounds.

Justin Brown poured in a career-tying 35 points for St. Thomas. Ahmad Gilbert collected 20 points. Other double-digit scorers included Joe (13), Jahsim Floyd (11) and Daejour Adderley (10).

Huntington is back at it tomorrow to play Florida Memorial at 1:00 p.m.