MEN’S BASKETBALL

The #13 Forester men’s basketball team cruised past Madonna 81-60 Wednesday night at the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena to remain unblemished on the year at 6-0. HU climbed six spots in the most recent NAIA national poll released earlier today while the Crusaders, ranked 21st in the first poll, fell out of the rankings as of today.

Drew Goodline’s three kicked of the evening’s scoring after which Maximus Gizzi scored HU’s next seven points to push the lead to 10-5 within the opening few possessions. There was no looking back for Alford’s crew as they never relented the lead enroute to their fourth double-digit win of the year.

Gizzi finished with 11 of his season-best 15 points in the first half. Lane Sparks also did most of his damage in the opening 20 minutes. The 6-3 senior cashed in on 20 of his game-high 24 points in the first period to send his team into break up 48-26.

Huntington’s lead ballooned to as many as 32 at 69-37 on a Romain Bruwier dunk midway through the second half before the hosts scratched and clawed to get back 13 points to settle the score at 19. HU’s defense was problematic for the Crusaders all contest. MU coughed up the ball 25 times while the Foresters committed just six blunders making for a lopsided 25-5 difference in points off turnovers. Another glaring statistic was points in the paint favoring the guests 52-32.

In addition to Sparks and Gizzi’s offensive contributions, Kaden Johnson came off the bench to toss in 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting down low. At the other end of the court, he also made it tough in the paint for the hosts as evidenced by piling up five blocks. Goodline also ended up in double figures for HU with 11 points.

Madonna was paced by Brendan Young’s 13 points and eight rebounds. The only other double digit scorer for the Crusaders was Sho-Ron Graham with ten.

Huntington is slated to host #RV Cornerstone on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.