MEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU men’s basketball team came to play Wednesday night at the expense of the visiting Maple Leafs (3-23, 0-15) of Goshen College. It was a 118-69 blowout at Platt Arena and Huntington’s most productive offensive outing of the season.

It proved the Foresters’ highest point total of the year (118) as well as their largest margin of victory (49) and highest shooting percentage (48-for-75 for 64.0 percent).

Ben Humrichous led the charge by dropping in a career-best 29 points. He missed just two shots on the night by going 13-for-15 from the field. The Tipton High School product also controlled the glass by ripping down a career-high nine rebounds which included three offensive boards.

Wyatt Hughes also had a banner night by unleashing for a career-best 20 points. Like Humrichous, his effectiveness was impressive having also missed just two shots. Mitchell Wilson tied his career-high by adding 19 points to go along with handing out a game-leading six dimes. Three other Foresters also landed in double figures which included Peyton West (14), Zach Goodline (11) and Spencer Ballinger (10).

“Wyatt was tremendous on both ends of the court,” said Coach Kory Alford. “He was vocal on defense and provided efficient scoring off the bench.”

The Foresters entered the contest ranked second nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.60) and certainly helped their cause tonight by committing just six TOs while racking up 28 assists.

The Maple Leafs never really had a fighting chance. Seven minutes in, HU had only given up six points to their visitors for an 11-point lead that only swelled after that. By halftime, the difference was 56-30. Huntington poured in another 62 points in the final 20 minutes to nearly double up their advantage by the final horn.

The cherry on top was a three-pointer in the waning seconds by Tim Abel who was celebrated prior to tip-off as part of senior day. Coach Alford was thrilled for his lone senior. “Having Tim hit that final shot on his senior night was amazing. He has dealt with tough injuries all season but has remained positive throughout and worked hard to return to the court.”

The comparisons were glaring with HU outscoring Goshen in the paint 70-36. They also took advantage of 18 Maple Leafs TOs to the tune of 30 points while Goshen managed just ten points off HU’s six mistakes. Bench scoring was also lopsided in favor of Huntington 41-4.

Tahj Curry paced GC with 26 points and five assists. Ryan Mansbarger and Quincy Mussio tossed in 12 and ten points respectively.

“This was a great team win for us tonight,” noted Alford. “We needed to refocus after two tough losses and our focus was on the defensive end of the court. This game should give us some confidence heading into the final regular season game on Saturday.”

The Foresters travel to Grace on Saturday to wrap up the regular season.