MEN’S BASKETBALL

A big second half by St. Francis (Ill.) December 19 at the Sullivan Center sent the Forester men’s basketball team home with an 85-76 loss. It’s not how Coach Alford and crew wanted to head into Christmas break as they drop to 8-3 on the year while the Saints improve to 5-2.

It was a Jekyll and Hyde sort of afternoon for the Foresters. After surging ahead 21-9 compliments of a 14-0 blitz early in the first half, the Foresters seemed poised for a big game. Caleb Middlesworth kicked off the run with the first eight points. The 6-8 junior had his best game of the season to finish with 29 points which included nailing a career-high seven three-pointers.

At the 14:02 mark, a Joel Dyer long ball gave Huntington a 24-10 lead which proved the largest gap of the day. Still holding a 14-point advantage a few minutes later, things started to unravel for the visitors. HU managed just two points over a four-minute spell. Meanwhile the Saints chipped away at their deficit to cut it to four at 29-25 with nine minutes left in the period.

The two squads traded buckets until intermission for a 47-41 halftime score favoring Huntington. The second period started much the way the first ended with the both teams matching each other blow-for-blow. With HU still up 53-47 with just under 17 minutes remaining, both teams went stone cold until Carlos Tovias finally buried a three at the 12:30 mark for a 53-50 ballgame.

While the Saints would tie things up four times after that, Huntington consistently had an answer until the 6:30 mark. It was at that point that Eric Ting’s layup gave USF a 68-67 lead that they wouldn’t give up. Everything fell into place for the hosts after that with their final 12 points all coming at the line.

St. Francis finished 22-for-29 from the charity stripe (75.9 percent) while Huntington went 8-for-9 (88.9 percent).

After scoring 47 points in the opening 20 minutes, HU managed just 29 points in the final frame to be outscored by 15 after recess to make for the final nine-point discrepancy.

In addition to Middlesworth’s 29 points, Hank Pulver added 12 points and a game-best ten rebounds for his first double double of the year. Peyton West was one assist away from a double double by tallying 11 points and nine assists to go along with five rebounds and four steals.

Ting finished with 15 points. USF’s bench handled the rest of the scoring with Aitor Anabitarte also pitching in 15 points while Carlos Tovias and EJ Charles tossed in 14 and 12 respectively.

“I didn’t do a very good job preparing us tonight,” said Coach Kory Alford. “I thought St. Francis out-toughed us and out-worked us for 40 minutes on both ends of the court. It’s a good lesson for our guys.

“The last game heading into break is always difficult and now this loss is going to sit with us for a few days. Hopefully we can rest our bodies and take some time off to spend with family but when we come back, we’ve got to find a way to be tougher as a collective unit.”

Huntington is off until January 6 when they clash with Saint Francis (Ind.) at 7:00 p.m. at Hutzell Athletic Center.