MEN’S BASKETBALL

Sophomore Zach Goodline’s layup with 0.2 seconds remaining lifted the visiting Huntington men’s basketball team (10-4, 3-3) past #10 Marian, 73-71, Monday night at the P.E. Center. It’s HU’s most notable win of the year with a resume that also includes beating #RV IU East and #RV Indiana Tech. The W also snaps a four-game win streak the Knights (8-2, 4-2) held over the Foresters.

“I am extremely proud of our effort tonight,” said Coach Kory Alford. “Our focus in practice last week was defensive intensity and rebounding and we were able to bring that for 40 minutes.

“We didn’t execute perfectly on either end, but I thought our effort made up for our mistakes.”

Goodline refused to leave Indianapolis without a win. After Luke Gohmann sank two freebies inside a minute remaining to force the game’s ninth tie at 68-68, the 6-1 point guard found the bottom of the net on  a baseline floater to put his team back on top by two with :43 seconds to go.

A defensive stop at the other end of the floor forced MU to foul, sending Hank Pulver to the line where he went 1-for-2 for a three-point Huntington lead with 11 ticks on the clock.

It looked like the game might head to OT when Christian Stewart sidestepped his defender to drain his second triple of the night with :04 remaining for a 71-71 stalemate. But a timeout by Alford allowed the Foresters to set up the final play and  Goodline proved the last man standing when he received a pass on the run in the backcourt and made a beeline to the basket for his game-winning heroics at the buzzer.

While the final minute of play was action-packed, the second half had its fair share of excitement as well. Down by nine at halftime, 38-29, the Foresters weren’t able to make up any ground through the opening nine minutes to find themselves in a 57-46 hole for what was the largest gap of the contest.

But all that changed with a Ben Humrichous jumper in the paint at the 11:06 mark. It ignited a 15-2 run that featured old-fashioned three-point plays by Goodline and Peyton West and a Humrichous long ball for a 61-59 HU lead by the 4:37 mark. It was the visitors’ first lead since the nine-minute mark of the first half.

It was an all-out brawl after that. The final four minutes included five ties. When the game wasn’t deadlocked; however, Huntington was in the driver’s seat as Marian’s only lead came on Christian Harvey’s layup with 3:37 remaining.

Most impressive about the Foresters’ gutsy performance was pulling off the upset without significant minutes from their leading scorer in Caleb Middlesworth who was saddled with foul trouble the entire contest.

Goodline finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists. After a few quiet games, Humrichous got back on track by piling up 20 points. West posted 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds while Pulver chipped in ten points.

“Ben was tremendous. He found multiple ways to score and really led us on offense with Caleb being in foul trouble,” said Alford. “Zach and Peyton were productive all night and executed that final play to win the game.

“Hank also really stepped up tonight with a tough challenge defending Wolter – one of the best centers in the Crossroads League.”

Cameron Wolter racked up a double double of 18 points and ten rebounds to pace the Knights. Stewart and Christian Harvey collected 16 and 13 points respectively.

Next up for Alford and crew is a two-game homestand that includes hosting #1 IWU on Wednesday and Grace on Saturday.