MEN’S BASKETBALL

Playing in front of their home crowd, the Huntington men’s basketball team dismantled Mount Vernon, 96-46, Saturday afternoon at Platt Arena. The 50-point spread is HU’s heftiest win of the season.

The victory moves Alford and crew to 8-3 overall, 2-2 in league play while the Cougars drop to 8-4 which includes a 1-3 CL record.

From opening tip, the Foresters made it clear they were the heavy favorites. HU put ten points on the board before their visitors finally scored at the 15:44 mark. Over the next six minutes, Huntington allowed just two more points to make for a 23-4 difference with nine minutes left in the half. The debacle continued for a 45-17 halftime discrepancy with more to come in the final 20 minutes.

The Foresters’ dominance continued after intermission as they gave up just 29 points in the second period while pouring in 51 points at the other end of the floor to make for the lopsided affair.

“This was our most complete 40 minutes of the season on both sides of the ball,” said Coach Kory Alford. “We were able to consistently get stops and rebound and it led to efficient offense.

“Zach and Peyton set the tone early with their ball pressure and I thought our bigs were extremely active, especially on the glass. Our bench also did a great job keeping the same energy on defense and providing scoring.”

Huntington’s defensive success was well documented. The Cougars coughed up the ball 15 times with 11 of those TOs coming by way of HU steals. The hosts gave up a mere two offensive boards in addition to allowing MVNU just 14 field goals on 27.5 percent shooting.

The last time a Huntington squad gave up fewer points dates back to 2015 when the Foresters cruised to an 82-38 win over Moody Bible Institute.

On this given day, HU generated 20 more shots than their guests compliments of committing a season-low seven miscues and collecting 11 of their own misses to which they cashed in for nine points. Alford’s crew scored 32 points in the paint and outscored Mount Vernon 23-2 in points off turnovers. For the game, HU connected on 49.3 percent of their shots by going 35-for-71.

Zach Goodline fueled the Foresters’ offense by dropping in 21 points. The 6-1 guard went 9-for-11 from the floor and 2-for-3 from the line for a near-flawless performance. Lane Sparks also missed just two field goals on the afternoon to finish with 15 points off the bench.

Caleb Middlesworth drilled three three-pointers on the way to scoring 13 points. Joel Dyer rounded out HU’s double-digit scoring with 11 points while Peyton West did a little bit of everything for his team by posting eight points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Hank Pulver pulled down a game-best nine rebounds.

Kade Ruegsegger logged 16 points as the only Cougar to log double figures.

Next up for HU is a matchup with Simmons College of Kentucky on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Platt Arena.