MEN’S BASKETBALL

The latest victim of #3 Indiana Wesleyan, the HU men’s basketball team suffered a 115-89 loss to the Wildcats Saturday afternoon at Luckey Arena. IWU (13-0, 6-0) is currenlty riding a 24-game win streak which includes ending last year with nine straight wins.

Wesleyan’s average margin of victory this season is 31.6 points.

While IWU turned the ball over two times in the opening six minutes, they made up for their blunders by missing just one shot to race in front 26-8 by the 13:53 mark for what proved an insurmountable lead. The Foresters, behind Caleb Middlesworth’s 16 first-half points, played even with their hosts the rest of the frame for a 58-40 score by intermission.

There was no looking back for the Wildcats in the second period as they grabbed a 20-point advantage right out of the gate on the way to outscoring Alford and crew by eight over the final 20 minutes to make for the lopsided outcome.

“I was disappointed with our start,” said Coach Kory Alford. “Getting down to a team of that caliber put us in a tough spot but I was glad that once we settled in, we played hard and continued to compete.

“We gave up way too many easy buckets in transitions and got killed on the glass. I was happy with our bench production. This was a great test for our young guys against one of the best teams in the nation and a good learning experience as we move forward.”

Middlesworth finished with a team-best and season-high 27 points on 11-for-16 shooting which including draining five from downtown. Zach Goodline scored all 19 of his points in the second half. Hank Pulver added ten points and pulled down a team-best five rebounds. A pair of freshmen in Mitchell Wilson and Joel Dyer came off the bench to post ten and seven points respectively.

Kyle Mangas, last year’s NAIA Player of the Year and three-time All-American, topped all scorers with 31 points to go along with seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Dylan Alderson pitched in 23 points while three other Wildcats tallied double figures including Michael Thompson (19), Seth Maxwell (17) and Tayson Parker (12).

The Foresters forced their hosts into 17 turnovers while committing 14 themselves. HU shot 52.3 percent from the field (34-for-65) while their counterparts connected on 62.5 percent of their attempts (45-for-72).

HU (7-2, 2-2) returns to Platt Arena on Thursday to host Indiana Tech at 7:00 p.m.