MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Huntington men’s basketball team shook a slow start to pick off #9 Grace, 88-74, Saturday afternoon in a packed out Platt Arena. The No. 9 Lancers are the highest-ranked opponent HU has knocked off during Coach Alford’s two-year tenure.

“I was extremely proud of how we responded to adversity early on,” said Coach Kory Alford. “Our bench brought us energy  and we were able to turn things up on the defensive end. I also thought the crowd today was fantastic.”

The Foresters had their work cut out for themselves as they spotted Grace a 20-2 lead to begin the game. Spencer Ballinger’s step around in the lane at the 12:37 mark was the start of Huntington’s turnaround.

Alford’s crew went to work after that with Caleb Middlesworth taking the first shift. The 6-8 senior scored six of the Foresters’ next nine points to trim the lead to 24-15 by the midway point. HU’s three starting guards took over the next ten minutes by accounting for 23 of their team’s final 26 points of the half.

It was a pair of Ben Humrichous threes on either side of Peyton West’s traditional three-point play that finally gave the Foresters their first lead of 35-34 with just over two minutes left in the frame. West and Zach Goodline each dropped in a long ball after that to send HU into intermission with a 41-36 advantage.

The flurry of activity that was the first half saw Huntington outscore Grace 39-16 over the 13 minutes leading up to break for a 23-point swing. HU’s surge carried over into the second period with Goodline’s pull-up jumper in the lane at the 16:39 mark giving the hosts their first double-digit lead of 50-39.

The lead stayed in double figures most of the way after that with one of the few exceptions coming with under four minutes to go when Grace (17-3, 6-2) slashed it to seven at 75-68. The Foresters’ response was an immediate 7-0 run with no turning back as the 14-point cushion stood by game’s end.

Goodline poured in 21 points and handed out a game-high six assists. Humrichous, who had the tall order of defending the league’s top scorer in Frankie Davidson, added 20 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists while holding Davidson eight points below his season average. West and Middlesworth tossed in 13 points apiece and corralled eight and seven rebounds respectively.

Elijah Malone led the Lancers with 21 points and eight boards. Davidson finished with 14 points while Jake Wadding chipped in 11 to round out Grace’s double-digit scoring for the game.

The bottom line for the Foresters was striking. In addition to shooting 48.5 percent from the floor which included going 9-for-21 from downtown, HU canned 15 of their 17 free throw attempts and committed just nine miscues. It’s the fourth straight game Alford’s crew has turned the ball over fewer than ten times.

“Ben did a great job on both ends of the court,” noted Alford. “Peyton and Zach led us defensively on ball and hit some key shots throughout the game. It’s been two weeks of ranked Crossroads League opponents and I thought we were able to improve with each game. We learned a lot about who we are as a team and what it takes to compete at a high level.”

Today’s matchup was HU’s fourth consecutive contest against a Top 25 team. After losing to #25 USF, #22 Marian and #9 IWU, the Foresters got back in the win column this afternoon to improve to 14-6 overall, 3-5 in league play. Next up is a trip to Goshen on Tuesday.