MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Trojans of Taylor University (9-8, 3-6) returned a favor with an 80-70 win over the HU men’s basketball team Saturday afternoon at Odle Arena. The victory avenged a 74-63 loss suffered to Huntington three days earlier.

It proved an off day for the Foresters. Despite their execution a bit off kilter, the visitors still managed to keep things close. No more than two possessions separated the two squads over the first 32 minutes during which the lead swapped back and forth four times and included four stalemates.

Zach Baugher’s bucket down low with just over eight minutes remaining gave Taylor the game’s largest lead up to that point at 57-50. HU cut it to four twice over the next minute but then would get no closer. It was just a six point difference, 64-58, at the 6:06 mark but unfortunately Huntington mustered only five points the rest of the way to allow their hosts to gradually pull away for the ten-point victory.

For the most part across the board, the Trojans’ bottom line was slightly better than Huntington’s. TU shot 46.7 percent (28-for-60) to HU’s 41.5 percent (22-for-53) with both teams canning nine three-pointers. Taylor finished 15-for-19 from the line (78.9 percent) while the Foresters went 17-for-22 (77.3 percent). The Trojans coughed up the ball 12 times to HU’s 14.

One stark difference came in the paint where Taylor muscled their way down low to outscore HU 36-24.

Zach Goodline topped Alford’s crew with 18 points. Hank Pulver and Mitchell Wilson each posted 12 points. Ben Humrichous added 11 points and a team-best six rebounds. Peyton West finished with ten points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

CJ Penha piled up 24 points to lead Taylor. Jason Hubbard chipped in 16 points while James McCloud and Kaden Fuhrmann contributed ten apiece. Baugher corralled 11 boards for game-high rebounding honors.

HU (12-6, 5-5) is back home on Wednesday to host #19 Bethel at 7:00 p.m.