MEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU men’s basketball team picked off #RV IU East convincingly, 98-78, Tuesday night at Platt Arena. The Foresters are off to a solid start as they improve to 2-0 on the year while the Red Wolves drop to 0-2.

The pivotal point of the game came late in the first half when the Foresters spent three minutes manufacturing a 14-1 run that turned their one-point deficit into a 12-point lead of 39-27 with 3:37 left in the period. Joel Dyer was the main instigator by draining a pair of threes and then assisting a Ben Humrichous dunk after intercepting a pass, all within a 60-second span.

The lead held as Alford and crew headed into the locker room with a 12-point cushion of 46-34. There was no turning back after that. Humrichous opened the second frame with his team’s eighth three ball of the game to give Huntington its largest lead of the night, up to that point, at 49-34.

Shortly after, Zach Goodline slithered through the lane for back-to-back layups, Humrichous hit from downtown again and Caleb Middlesworth connected on two free throws, all within 90 seconds, to build HU’s lead to 20 by the 17:15 mark.

The Red Wolves, the preseason favorite in the River States Conference, never recovered as at least 20 points separated the two teams the rest of the way with Huntington swelling the lead to as many as 31 on the way to the skewed win.

When all was said and done, all five of Alford’s starters scored in double digits. Humrichous led the Forester attack with a game-high 22 points which included five long balls. Middlesworth recorded 16 points. Goodline added 15 points to go along with seven assists and four rebounds.

Peyton West could do no wrong. The junior guard didn’t miss a shot on his way to pouring in 14 points and was just two assists away from a triple double having racked up game-bests of 11 rebounds and eight dimes. Hank Pulver finished with ten points while Dyer came off the bench to toss in 12 points, all from deep.

“I thought Ben was incredibly efficient tonight which is particularly impressive considering this is just his second collegiate game,” said Coach Alford. “Zach and Peyton gave us good minutes at the point position.

“They combined for 15 assists and just three turnovers. I also thought Joel really sparked our offense with his threes off the bench. Our guards all did a great job of attacking their press to score which was an emphasis all week in practice.”

The Foresters sizzled the nets to the tune of 59.3 percent from the floor which included going 14-for-27 from beyond the arc. Of HU’s 35 field goals, 20 were assisted. When the hosts weren’t dropping in field goals, they were at the charity stripe where they went 14-for-18 for 77.8 percent.

“Our offense was really clicking tonight,” said Alford. “I’m proud of the way we played up tempo and unselfish basketball. We shot 52 percent from three and had six players finish in double digits. It’s a credit to how well our guys moved the ball.”

Jaylen McKay led IU East with 20 points and eight rebounds. Dionte Raines and Jamisen Smith registered 14 and 13 points respectively as the Red Wolves’ other double-digit scorers.

Next up for Alford’s crew is the annual Ness Bros. Hall of Fame Classic this weekend. The Foresters will face IU Kokomo on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and then turn around to play IU Southeast on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.