MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Huntington men’s basketball team never trailed Monday afternoon at Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena to head into Christmas break with a 91-85 win over Madonna (9-6). With this W, the Foresters improve to 12-3 on the year.

Zach Goodline scored nine of his team’s first 13 points for an early HU advantage of 13-7. The first five minutes included the game’s only tie at 5-5 as the Foresters’ lead hovered right around ten points most of the day.

While Huntington wasn’t able to pull away by more than 16 points, they stayed in command of the contest even when the Crusaders crept within five in the final :30 seconds of play. Peyton West made sure it got no closer by going a perfect 4-for-4 from the line before Brendan Young’s three at the buzzer made it seem a closer game than it really was.

The Foresters took a 47-33 lead into halftime. They maintained their double-digit advantage until an Ethan Emerzian layup closed the gap to nine at 84-75 with 3:50 remaining. It marked the middle of a 16-5 Crusader run that dwindled the difference to 87-82 with 26 ticks to go before West’s heroics at the free line snuffed out MU’s hopes of a dramatic comeback.

Goodline and Ben Humrichous each posted 19 points as two of five Foresters to tally double figures. Hank Pulver added 13 points while West and Lane Sparks pitched in 12 apiece. Caleb Middlesworth tracked down a team-high nine rebounds.

Emerzian came off the bench to pour in 22 points for Madonna. Noah Campbell finished with 19 points, Young posted a double double of 15 points and ten rebounds and Matthew MacLellan tossed in ten.

While Huntington enjoyed a 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers, committing ten to Madonna’s 15, the hosts nearly made up that difference by outscoring their guests 17-4 on second chance points.

The Foresters connected on 56.1 percent of their field goals (37-for-66) which included ten long balls. MU finished 46.4 percent from the field (32-for-69) with 11 buckets coming from downtown.

HU is off until New Year’s Eve when they host Saint Xavier at 5:00 p.m.