MEN’S BASKETBALL

The #13 Huntington men’s basketball team came out on top, 82-78, of a barnburner Saturday afternoon at Platt Arena against #RV Cornerstone. With this win, HU remains perfect on the year at 7-0. It’s the program’s best start since the 2013-2014 season when the Foresters won their first 14 games.

With this loss, the Golden Eagles drop to 2-3. All three of Cornerstone’s losses have been to Crossroads League foes. IWU and Spring Arbor both topped CU while Grace suffered a nine-point loss to them.

The Foresters got off to the better start to enjoy a 15-5 advantage six minutes into the contest. Things continued to click for Alford’s crew as they doubled up their guests 34-17 by the 7:37 mark. A 15-point gap of 39-24 still separated the two teams thanks to a Cade Brenner three with four minutes left in the half.

As is the case any time two quality sides meet up, the game was far from over. Cornerstone spent the rest of the period making up ground to cut it to 47-38 by intermission. They picked up where they left off to start the second frame, claiming their first lead of the game, 54-53, by the 15:24 mark by way of a long ball from their leading scorer Luke Rowlinson.

Over the next nine minutes, no more than one possession separated the two squads until Drew Goodline changed the trajectory of the contest by knocking down back-to-back three balls to give HU a 71-63 advantage with just over five minutes remaining.

Cornerstone scored the next four points of the game from the charity stripe after which a turnaround in the paint by Landen Jordan gave his team a little breathing room. The Golden Eagles continued to stick around so Huntington looked to Lane Sparks and Maximus Gizzi down the stretch to close the deal.

Sparks scored on consecutive HU possessions starting at the 3:30 mark with Gizzi adding his two cents with a transition layup for a 79-71 lead with just over two minutes remaining. CU countered with the next five points to once again dwindle HU’s lead to a single possession with just under a minute to go. Sparks connected on one of two free throws and then Gizzi took over, drawing a charge and then calmly sinking a pair of free throws with nine seconds to go to ensure the win.

Sparks topped all scorers with 21 points. Gizzi added 17 points on 6-for-7 shooting to go along with a 4-for-4 performance from the line. Jordan tossed in 15, snarled eight rebounds and swatted four shots. Goodline also landed in double figures with 12 to go along with posting four assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Jackson Paul did a little bit of everything to finish with seven points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Rowlinson led the Golden Eagles with 18 points. Mason Brooks and Tanner Wiegerink recorded 15 and 14 points respectively to round out CU’s double digit scoring. Toby Woolcock claimed rebounding honors with nine.

Next up is Wednesday’s conference opener that will feature a Top 15 showdown between #13 HU and #3 IWU. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. at Platt Arena.