MEN’S BASKETBALL

The #RV Saint Francis Cougars downed the Huntington men’s basketball team 100-84 Monday night at Platt Arena. It’s the Foresters’ second loss to USF (20-7, 7-7) this season with their first, a 77-66 decision, dating back to January 6.

It’s also the first time this season Alford’s crew has lost two games in a row as they drop to 15-9 overall, 6-8 in the Crossroads League.

An athletic and extremely quick Saint Francis squad showed no mercy towards the tattered and short-staffed Foresters to jump out to permanent lead of 11-8 within the first four minutes of the night when Lance Dollison drilled a three. It was his first of four and ignited a 12-2 run that saw five different Cougars knock down a shot for a 20-10 USF advantage.

Forced to play catch up the rest of the night, the Foresters responded by outscoring their visitors by seven over the next two-and-a-half minutes to close to within three at 22-19 by the midway point of the frame. Not to be outdone, Saint Francis countered to build their lead back to double figures shortly after before taking a 43-38 lead into intermission.

Dan McKeeman was a one-man wrecking crew to start the second half. The sophomore transfer from Cedarville University was unstoppable beyond the arc – nailing five three-pointers in the opening five minutes to extend his team’s lead to 64-43.

The disparity after that ranged from as low as ten to as high as 22 as Alford’s crew knows no quit.

Zach Goodline put up 23 points, seven assists and three steals to lead HU. Hank Pulver and Spencer Ballinger each tossed in 15 points and corralled seven boards to share team-high rebounding honors. Mitchell Wilson’s eight assists was a team-best and career-high for the freshman guard.

The Foresters’ bench outscored Saint Francis’ 27-10.

McKeeman posted career-best numbers for USF with his 33 points and nine three-pointers. The 6-0 guard entered the contest ranked fourth nationally in made three-pointers with 73. Antwaan Cushingberry added 19 points, nine rebounds and just as many assists. Jalan Mull logged a double double of 14 points and ten assists as did David Ejah who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Dollison chipped in 13 points to round out USF’s double-digit scoring.

“I appreciate how hard we played,” said Coach Kory Alford. “We just weren’t able to defend consistently. We’re struggling with injuries, but I thought our bench stepped up by providing some scoring. We still have two big opportunities left this week to put ourselves in good position for postseason play.”

The Foresters are home again on Wednesday to host Goshen before heading to Grace on Saturday for their last regular season game.