MEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU men’s basketball team capped off an impressive week with a 93-85 win over Grace (11-5, 4-3) Saturday afternoon at Platt Arena. The last six days saw the Foresters knock off #10 Marian on Monday and play within eight points of #1 IWU on Wednesday.

With this afternoon’s win, Alford’s squad improves to 11-5 overall, 4-4 in league play.

“This was a perfect finish to a pivotal week of our team’s season,” said Coach Kory Alford. “We had a really tough stretch so for us to win two of our last three games is encouraging.

“We learned a lot about ourselves – mainly what it takes to compete and how to find ways to win games in this league.”

Huntington showed no mercy to their guests in the first eight minutes by racing out to 26-6 lead. Hank Pulver was the ringleader by reigning in three long balls on his way to scoring half of his team’s first 26 points. While the Lancers would spend the rest of the period clawing their way back in it, reducing the lead down to six with five ticks remaining, Zach Goodline squelched their momentum with a buzzer-beating layup to send his team into the locker room up 44-36.

After a quiet six points in the first frame, Caleb Middlesworth took over the final 20 minutes. The 6-8 junior poured in 22 points on 9-for-11 shooting to finish with a game-best 28 points. It’s the sixth time this year he’s claimed a 20+ point performance.

While the Foresters’ lead swelled to as many as 15 in the last stanza, the Lancers were able to shrink it down to six points once and eight on multiple occasions. But each time Grace came knocking, HU had an answer to thwart any sort of gallant finish by GC.

In addition to his 28 points, Middlesworth also enjoyed game-high rebounding honors with nine, rejected two shots and handed out two assists. Goodline added 19 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Pulver also piled up 19 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Mitchell Wilson came off the bench to toss in ten points which included scoring all but two in the final minute of play.

On the day, the Foresters shot 52.2 percent from the field (36-for-69) and racked up 22 assists while committing just seven turnovers. HU also corralled nine offensive boards to Grace’s five to outscore their visitors, 17-8, on second chance points.

“We did a great job moving the ball tonight,” said Alford. “Caleb and Hank scoring inside helped open up everything offensively. I thought we did a great job of making three throws and taking care of the ball against their pressure late in the game. Mitchell came up big for us as a freshman by going 8-for-8 from the line down the stretch.

“Our defensive effort slipped as the game wore on but thankfully, we had built ourselves a large lead. We have a much needed day off tomorrow to rest up for a big series against Taylor this coming week.”

Jake Wadding topped Grace with 18 points. Other double-digit scorers for the Lancers included Frankie Davidson (17), Matt Jennings (16) and Haden Deaton (15).

Huntington hosts Taylor on Wednesday and then travels to Upland on Saturday for another battle with the Trojans.