MEN’S BASKETBALL

There was a lot on the line Saturday afternoon in the final game of the regular season between the Forester men’s basketball team and the Lancers of Grace College. Both teams entered the contest with a 7-8 league record and a chance at the fifth seed in the final Crossroads League standings.

Despite taking a 39-27 lead into halftime, HU found themselves on the wrong end of a 93-86 decision by the final buzzer. With this win, Grace (17-10) locked in at the fifth spot for the conference tourney while the Foresters (16-10, 7-9) finish tied for sixth with Mount Vernon but bump down to the seventh seed since the Cougars beat HU twice this season.

Today’s battle, as constituents from both teams have come to expect, included eight ties and ten lead changes over the course of the afternoon. Unfortunately, Grace’s 11-point lead of 87-76 with just over two minutes remaining proved too large of a gap for the Foresters to overcome.

But Huntington didn’t go down without a fight. Behind seven points from Zach Goodline, the Foresters dwindled the lead down to three, 89-86, with :21 ticks remaining but had no choice but to foul after that. Grace capitalized on HU’s dire situation by making all four of their freebies to stave off any sort of heroic comeback by Alford and crew.

Goodline led HU with 20 points. Hank Pulver ended up with 19. Ben Humrichous and Caleb Middlesworth added 13 and 11 points respectively. Peyton West dished out a game-best seven assists.

Frankie Davidson topped all scorers with 23 points in addition to grabbing a game-best 14 rebounds. Grace’s other four starters in Haden Deaton (19), Jake Wadding (16), Elijah Malone (12) and Jakob Gibbs (12) also finished in double figures for the Lancers.

HU will face #2 Marian on Wednesday in quarterfinal action of the Crossroads League tournament.