MEN’S BASKETBALL

After playing within four points of one of the nation’s best through the opening 20 minutes, the Forester men’s basketball team came out on the wrong end of an 82-69 decision to #6 Mount Vernon Nazarene Saturday afternoon at Platt Arena.

The first half was up for grabs as the lead toggled back and forth five times. Aside from two briefs stints, no more than two possessions separated the two squads as the period also saw five stalemates. Konner Platt had the hot hand by going 3-for-5 from downtown on his way to topping all scorers in the opening frame with 11 points. As a team, however, the Foresters shot an uncharacteristic 38.2 percent from the field but still stayed within striking distance by heading into intermission down by only four at 41-37.

After the first eight minutes of the second half, Huntington was still within two scores of their visitors, 59-54, but their struggle to put the ball in the hole finally caught up with them. A three-minute scoreless stretch for HU translated into 11 unanswered points for MVNU and a double-digit advantage that stood the test of time.

The Cougars stretched the lead to as many as 20 with seven minutes to go but the Foresters surged back to cut it to 11, 77-66, by the 4:24 mark behind four points from Tyler Arens. It was as close as things would get as 13 points separated the two teams by the final buzzer.

Platt poured in a game-best 23 points with 15 of those points coming from deep. Caleb Middlesworth netted 14 points and corralled a game-tying nine rebounds. Zac Owens finished with 13 points.

Jeremiah Roberts tossed in 21 points for Mount Vernon. Brett Vipperman added 20 points and nine rebounds. Austin Jones posted 13 points while Jevon Knox and Isaac White scored 12 and 11 points respectively.

Platt’s crew committed just eight turnovers to MVNU’s 14. Shooting ended up getting the best of HU as they finished the day at 38.1 percent to the Cougars’ 52.7 percent.

While Mount Vernon (22-4, 10-4) tallied the series sweep over the Foresters this year, HU has dominated this conference matchup by collecting 12 wins to just four losses under the tutelage of Coach Platt.

HU is 15-11 overall, 5-9 in league play. Next up, the Foresters face Goshen on Tuesday at Platt Arena. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.