MEN’S BASKETBALL

While it wasn’t the outcome the Huntington men’s basketball team was gunning for, it was abundantly clear Tuesday night in Platt Arena that the Foresters can play with anyone. After enjoying a lead over 4th-ranked Mount Vernon Nazarene more often than not in regulation, HU lost a heartbreaker in overtime, 88-82, to drop to 9-8 overall, 1-4 in league play.

Including tonight’s nail-bitter, the Cougars have strung together seven straight wins to improve to 16-1 overall, 4-1 in CL action.

The first half was a see saw affair with MVNU jumping in front for the first eight minutes. Hank Pulver’s long ball at the 12:02 mark gave his team its first lead of the night at 17-16. It was a battle the rest of the period as the two teams traded blows evidenced by three ties and nine led changes with HU taking a 42-41 advantage into recess.

Andrew Yoder came up big for his team late in the frame by knocking down back-to-back-to-back triples in the final 1:10. His shooting spree capped off an 11-3 run that dug HU out of a seven-point hole. Pulver picked up where Yoder left off by accounting for five of his team’s first six points of the second half to grow the lead to eight at 52-44 less than four minutes in.

It was Caleb Middlesworth’s turn shortly after as the sophomore forward dropped in seven points in a 90-second span to swell the lead to ten, 59-49, by the 12:14 mark. The double-digit advantage was the first of the contest but not the last. Konner Platt found Klajd Kiri down low with eight minutes to go for what proved the game’s largest disparity at 66-55 but MVNU wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.

More specifically, Austin Jones and Jevon Knox weren’t ready to throw in the towel. The twosome paired up to score 18 of their team’s final 21 points in regulation to force the game to an extra period. Knox delivered the dagger when he pulled up for a long three with 5.2 seconds remaining to knot things up at 76-76. It was the only tie of the second half as Huntington held a lead the entire period up to that point.

The Cougars opened OT with a three and while Lewis Wang and Platt each buried a trey after that to pull their team within a possession each time, MVNU always had an answer to eventually pull out the six-point victory.

Pulver poured in a career-best 18 points in addition to tallying five rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Platt finished with 15 points and four assists. Yoder scored all 14 of his points in the first half and also doled out four assists.

Wang added 13 points while Middlesworth picked up his third double double of the year by posting 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Jones and Knox dropped in 23 and 22 points respectively to pace the Cougars. Isaac White registered 12 points and Alex Johnson claimed a double double of 11 points and 12 boards.

It doesn’t get any easy for the Foresters as they face their seventh Top 25 opponent on Saturday when they host #9 Bethel at 3:00 p.m.