MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Huntington men’s basketball team handed IU Northwest their first home loss of the year Thursday night at the Savannah Center. The 77-69 road win moves Platt and crew to 6-5 on the season while the RedHawks drop to 8-3.

Including tonight’s contest, these two teams have met four times in the last decade with HU claiming three wins.

There was just one lead change on the night, and it came right after halftime. IU Northwest savored the lead for the entire first half, stretching their advantage to as many as nine by the midway point of the frame before taking a slim 34-32 tilt into intermission.

Hank Pulver set the stage for the two teams to trade positions when he scored on a put back just 40 seconds into the second period to draw things even at 34-34. Konner Platt then put his team permanently on top on HU’s next possession.

It was a slow and steady grind after that with the visitors extending their advantage to double digits, 50-39, by the 12-minute mark on a tradition three-point play by Caleb Middlesworth. Over the next three minutes, the 6-8 forward turned into a one-man wrecking ball by going off for another nine points which included a second and one and a pair of long balls.

When the dust had settled from Middlesworth’s tear, he had upped his team’s lead to 59-44 which proved the biggest gap of the night. The Foresters’ double-digit advantage remained until the final two minutes when IU Northwest pieced together a 6-0 run to trim the lead to five at 72-67 with 1:43 remaining.

But Huntington then did what it does better than most of their NAIA peers by going 5-for-6 from the line to solidify the W by eight. The Foresters currently rank 7th nationally at the line by knocking down 89.7 percent of their attempts.

Peyton West’s performance was some of his best in Forester green and white. In addition to topping all scorers with a career-tying 23 points, the 6-1 point also sniped a career-best six steals and posted nine rebounds and four assists, both of which were season-highs.

Middlesworth finished with 17 points. Platt added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Andrew Yoder sparked HU off the bench with nine points, four rebounds and three steals while Pulver tallied career-highs of eight points and eight boards.

Marshaud Watkins paced the RedHawks with 16 points. Martellian Gibson and Rashad Richardson collected 13 and 12 point respectively.

Platt and company head to the sunshine state next week to take on St. Thomas on Friday and Florida Memorial on Saturday.