MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester men’s basketball team added another notch to their win column, a 95-85 decision, Saturday afternoon against Carroll College (Mont.) as part of the Cactus Classic hosted by Chandler Gilbert CC.

It’s the first time HU has participated in the annual classic in the Grand Canyon State and the first time these two programs have met up. Today’s win is HU’s third straight as Alford and crew move to 6-5 on the year. All six of their wins have been double-digit disparities.

The afternoon featured a game of runs with Huntington having the final say. All knotted up at 71-71 with just over eight minutes to go, HU pieced together a 12-2 run over a four-minute stretch for an 83-73 lead that they were ultimately able to ride out for the win in a well-fought battle.

As it worked out, the game ended much like it began. The Foresters raced out to a 14-3 lead five minutes into the contest. They stretched their advantage to as many as 14 by the 12:44 mark of the first half before the Saints came charging back.

By halftime, not only had Carroll dug themselves out their double-digit hole, they ended up taking a 44-43 lead into intermission after James Lang was fouled on a three and sank all three of his free tosses with four ticks remaining in the half.

The Saints grew their advantage to as many as seven on two different occasions with the last at 70-63  by the midway point of the frame before HU started clawing their way back in it. It was back-to-back triples by Mitchell Wilson and Jackson Paul that finally tipped the scales in Huntington’s favor with Jackson’s long ball tying things up with 8:26 remaining.

After that, it was the Zach Goodline and Landen Jordan show as the pair combined to score 20 of HU’s final 24 points. Jordan’s contributions came by way of three dunks and a free throw while Goodline found multiple ways to put the ball in the hole which included a triple, two jumpers and six free throws.

Prior to those two taking matters into their own hands, Lane Sparks put on a scoring clinic by unleashing for a season-high and game-best 34 points to go along with eight rebounds and four steals. Goodline finished with 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds while Jordan posted 15 points and eight boards.

Kendall Moore led three Saints in double figures with 19 points. Gui Pedra and Lang added 15 and 14 points respectively.

Huntington is back in action in Arizona on Monday to take on Montana State – Northern at 8:00 p.m. EST.