MEN’S BASKETBALL

The field of 64 teams for the 84th annual NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship has been cut in half with the 12th-seeded Foresters moving on by way of an 80-69 win over 5th-seeded Georgetown (25-8) Friday night as part of the Montgomery bracket in opening round action at Faulkner’s Tine W. Davis Gymnasium.

With this win, the biggest upset of the NAIA tournament, the Foresters improve to 23-10 and advance to the championship game of the four-team pod. HU will face No. 4 Faulkner tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m. (CST) with the winner advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in Kansas City next week.

Georgetown entered the night leading the 64-team field with 41 tournament appearances which includes three national championships.

Senior Caleb Middlesworth made sure his team got off to a hot start by scoring the game’s first five points on the way to a 9-0 HU lead right out of the gate. Just over five minutes into the contest, the 6-8 forward already had ten points.

Huntington held on to a lead the majority of the half until a Cam Brooks three at the 2:42 mark gave Georgetown their first advantage of 36-35. Another GC bucket upped the lead to three before Ben Humrichous closed out the period with five unanswered points which included a buzzer-beating three for a 40-40 deadlock at the midway point.

The Tigers’ three-point tilt in the first half proved their largest advantage of the day but it wasn’t the last time they fought HU for the lead. The first five minutes of the second period featured four lead changes. Aside from two ties after that, the last a 59-59 draw with ten minutes to go, Huntington stayed in front.

HU’s lead never ventured beyond four points in the final 20 minutes until Humrichous and Lane Sparks drilled threes within 30 seconds of each other to give their team a little breathing room at 70-62 with just over six minutes remaining. Things fell into place for the Foresters after that as the 11-point victory was the game’s largest disparity.

Humrichous finished with 14 points, four rebounds, four blocks and two assists. All four of his blocks came in the final nine minutes of play.

Hank Pulver also filled the stat sheet for HU with his 13 points, nine from deep, four rebounds and two blocks. Sparks came off bench to add ten points, six boards and two steals.

Middlesworth was a picture of consistency and efficiency for Alford’s crew, dropping in a team-best 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting which included hitting all four of his three point attempts. Additionally he pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds.

Zach Goodline was also a handful for Georgetown. After a quiet first half of scoring only two points, the 6-1 floor general finished with 18 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals.

As a team, the Foresters shot 51.7 percent from the floor (30-for-58) which included draining 11 of their 18 three-pointers. They connected on 81.8 percent of their free throws by going 9-for-11 and committed just eight turnovers.

At the other end of the floor, HU held the Tigers 13 points below their season average and limited them to 41.2 percent shooting (28-for-68) which included going 4-for-21 (19.0 percent) from long range.

Kyran Jones finished with 29 points and nine rebounds to pace Georgetown. Derrin Boyd and Brooks chipped in 13 and ten points respectively.

The last time Huntington made a trip to NAIA Nationals was 2014. The program’s last win on the big stage dates back to the 2005-06 season when the Foresters made it to the championship game under the direction of legendary coach Steve Platt.