MEN’S BASKETBALL

In an intense non-conference neighborly rivalry, the Huntington men’s basketball team stretched their win streak to five with a 79-76 road win over Indiana Tech Thursday night to move to 10-3 on the year. Until last year, the two squads hadn’t faced off for over a decade. HU eked out a one-point victory last year and had won the two previous meetings to make tonight’s outing the fourth straight Huntington win.

The loss drops Tech to 10-5 with three of those losses against Crossroads League foes.

“I’m extremely proud of our effort tonight,” said Coach Kory Alford. “Indiana Tech does a great job playing a physical style of play and attacking the rim. We made tough plays throughout and were able to get enough stops down the stretch to get the road win.”

Zach Goodline got his team off to a great start by scoring seven points in the first four minutes of the game for an 11-4 HU advantage. He would go on to double his point total by recess to send his team into the locker room with a slim 39-38 lead. While the guests found themselves on top more often than the Warriors throughout the opening 20 minutes, the task was anything but easy as the first period featured four lead changes and six ties.

The Foresters’ first nine points after intermission came from downtown. It made for a 48-41 tilt by the 17:35 mark and was the first of several seven-point gaps created by HU with the last at 57-50 when Ben Humrichous drained his team’s ninth long ball of the night with 13 minutes to go.

Huntington would go on to hold Tech at bay for the next six minutes until a Steve Helm layup put the hosts up 64-63. It was the Warriors’ first lead since the seven-minute mark of the first half.

Goodline, who had been quiet most of the frame, came back to life to squelch any intention Tech had of holding the lead for any length of time. The 6-1 playmaker converted two free throws and found the bottom of the net on a floater from the elbow to give his team the go ahead, 67-66, with just over five minutes remaining.

Goodline would go on to assist Caleb Middlesworth’s third triple of the night and then scored four of his team’s next seven points for a 77-72 advantage with a minute to go. Peyton West netted a pair of freebies with :30 ticks remaining to wrap up Huntington’s scoring and it proved enough as the Warriors couldn’t get either of their contested looks in the waning seconds to drop.

As a team, the Foresters shot 49.2 percent from the field (31-for-63) which included draining ten threes at a clip of 41.7 percent. They also made good on seven of their eight free throw attempts. Tech finished 29-for-64 from the floor (45.3 percent) which included connecting on four of their 13 three-pointers. The hosts collected another 14 points from the charity stripe.

Goodline finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with five assists, four rebounds and three steals. The junior point guard has scored 20+ points in five of the last seven games. Humrichous added 16 points which included a critical traditional three-point play with under two minutes remaining while Middlesworth posted 11 points.

Grant Smith, an IWU transfer, poured in 21 points to pace the Warriors. Rog Stein and Helm tossed in another 15 and 12 points respectively.

Huntington is off until December 18 when they travel to IU East for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off with the Red Wolves.