MEN’S BASKETBALL

The #RV HU men’s basketball team not only enjoyed the regular season sweep over Mount Vernon (14-9, 4-9) Wednesday night at Platt Arena, the 95-76 decision over the Cougars also proved their third straight league win. The victory is also Huntington’s fifth consecutive over MVNU.

While only five points separated the two teams at game’s end back in early January, tonight’s contest had a much different feel. The evening saw just one tie with Huntington leading the rest of the time.

At the 12:39 mark of the first half, HU was only up 16-13 but a bucket by Lane Sparks sparked an 11-0 run. In a matter of three minutes, Huntington had more than doubled up their visitors 27-13.

The Foresters showed no signs of slowing down with back-to-back threes by Cade Brenner ballooning the lead to 46-20 late in the period before Alford and crew headed into the locker room with a comfortable 52-29 lead.

The largest discrepancy of the night came when Gage McGuire stole the ball under HU’s basket for an easy lay-in that extended the lead to 28 at 71-43 with 13 minutes remaining. Mount Vernon didn’t go down without a fight, cutting their deficit in half, 79-65, by the six-minute mark.

It was a wake-up call for the Foresters who proceeded to build their advantage back up to as many as 22 before settling for the 19-point win.

Zach Goodline topped all scorers with 23 points and just missed out on a double double having handed out nine dimes. He also corralled five rebounds and swiped two steals. Sparks added 20 points, five assists, four boards and four steals.

Jackson Paul replicated his efforts from the first MVNU game by pouring in 20 points. Landen Jordan put up 12 points and ripped down a game-best 12 rebounds for the double double.

Kade Ruegsegger tossed in 21 to pace the Cougars. Bailey Conrad scored 15 while Milton Gage added ten to round out MVNU’s double digit scoring.

The Foresters (16-7, 9-4) are currently sitting third in the league standing behind Grace and IWU. It’s a quick turnaround for Alford and crew as they head to Marian on Friday to face the Knights ta 3:00 p.m.