MEN’S BASKETBALL

In a critical Crossroads League matchup, Mount Vernon got the best of the Forester men’s basketball team, 89-84, Saturday afternoon at Ariel Arena.

The win puts the Cougars (15-8) in sole possession of fifth place in the league standings with a 6-5 CL record while HU (16-8, 5-7) drops into a tie for sixth with Bethel. Today’s MVNU W also ties up the regular season series between these two squads with Huntington having cruised past the Cougars, 96-46, back in early December.

After a defensively-dominated first half that slightly favored the guests, 32-30, offense reigned supreme in the last twenty minutes. Both teams shot around 60.0 percent from the field in the second period, but it was trips to the line that proved the difference. HU went 11-for-14 while MVNU capitalized on 16 of their 22 attempts.

While the opening 20 minutes was a one-possession game with the exception of MVNU’s 5-0 lead which lasted less than 30 seconds, the second frame featured a few more separations in score.

Caleb Middlesworth’s three, his fourth of the game, at the 15:15 mark gave Huntington its largest lead of the afternoon at 44-38 but Kade Ruegsegger quickly closed the gap with a rare four-point play on the very next trip down the court to prevent any sort of Forester run that might have been brewing.

It sparked a 12-2 run that saw Ruegsegger head back to the line two minutes later for three freebies after getting fouled on another long ball. He canned all three to put his team on top for good at 50-46 with 13 minutes to go.

Huntington closed to within two shortly after, but they couldn’t get it to stick as a few possessions separated the two squads the rest of the way with the Cougars extending their lead to as many as 11 with just under a minute to play.

Middlesworth gave his team a little hope when he drained back-to-back threes for an 86-80 difference with :23 ticks remaining. Unfortunately, time was the enemy as MVNU was able to milk the clock for the win.

Middlesworth finished with six three-pointers on the way to scoring a season- and game-high 24 points. Lane Sparks dropped 19 points to go along with six assists, four rebounds and three steals. Zach Goodline scored 11 of his 17 points from the charity stripe. He also handed out five dimes. Spencer Ballinger went 4-for-5 from the field which included two from deep to add ten points.

Five Cougars landed in double figures with Ruegsegger topping his team with 18 points. Clay Hilliard tossed in 17. Kyle Kegley logged the game’s only double double with 14 points and ten rebounds while Camron Mckenzie and Carter Jones added 13 and 12 points respectively.

The Foresters are back in action on Tuesday to host Spring Arbor.