MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester men’s basketball team couldn’t recover from an 18-point first half deficit Wednesday night at the Hutzell Athletic Center to suffer a 77-66 loss to #20 Saint Francis (14-2, 2-2). The loss drops HU to 9-4 overall which includes a 2-3 record in Crossroads League action.

Alford and crew would just as soon forget the opening 20 minutes, as not much went right for the visitors. They managed just 19 points on 30.8 percent shooting to dig themselves in a hole they couldn’t climb out of. While the gap was insurmountable, HU kept up the fight to reduce the difference to single digits inside of a minute to play.

“I was disappointed with our effort in the first half,” said Coach Kory Alford. “We fought back late but it wasn’t enough against a talented Saint Francis team.

“We must continue to improve our toughness on the defensive end and find a way to rebound much better as we progress in conference play.”

Down by 26 at 55-29 with just under 14 minutes remaining, Huntington staged a ferocious comeback that featured six different Foresters scoring during a five-minutes span to trim the lead to 11 at 58-47. The Cougars’ rebuttal was gradual but effective as they grew the lead to 70-52 with 3:37 remaining.

Over the next three minutes, HU cashed in on four threes and a pair of free tosses while limiting Saint Francis to just four points to erase the lead to eight points, 74-66, with :41 ticks remaining. Regrettably, that was as close as the visitors would get as USF wrapped things up by going 3-for-4 from the charity stripe to lock up the 11-point victory.

While HU knocked down twice as many threes as their counterparts and committed six TOs to USF’s 13, their offensive efficiency was lacking. The Foresters shot 43.2 percent from the field (25-for-58) to Saint Francis’ 54.5 percent (30-for-55) and got to the line seven time to their hosts’ 19 times.

Zach Goodline finished with a game-best 22 points to go along a game-high eight assists. Caleb Middlesworth and Peyton West chipped in 12 and 11 points respectively. West took team-high rebounding honors with seven.

David Ejah registered a double double of 21 points and 14 rebounds for USF. Other double-digit scorers for Saint Francis included Antwaan Cushingberry (17), Jalan Mull (15) and Dan McKeeman (14).

HU is on the road again on Saturday to play #10 Marian at 1:00 p.m.