MEN’S BASKETBALL

Behind their playmaker Zach Goodline, the #RV Forester men’s basketball team cruised past Southern Oregon 100-88 Saturday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion. It’s the second time this season HU has hit triple digits.

It was off to the races from opening tip with the two teams combining to go 8-for-8 from the field to the start the game. The pace of the first ten minutes continued at a high rate with Lane Sparks’ jumper at the midway point giving HU a slight 32-29 edge. Hank Pulver was Huntington’s key cog to their hot start having scored 14 points in the first seven minutes.

The Foresters went on to take a 51-44 lead into the locker room. Three minutes into the second frame, the Raiders (2-2) had already cashed in on three triples to trim the deficit to two, but Zach Goodline wasn’t having it. Over the next two and a half minutes, the 6-1 point went off for 13 points to balloon the lead to 70-57.

Goodline’s scoring craze blew the game wide open as the double-digit lead was there to stay with Huntington’s biggest gap of 89-69 coming at the seven-minute mark. He was unstoppable all night as evidenced by finishing with a new career-high 35 points which included going 4-for-5 from deep and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line. When he wasn’t scoring, he was handing out dimes (8). At the other end of the floor, he swiped four steals and pulled down three boards.

Sparks also had himself a night by pouring in 21 points to go along with five rebounds and two assists. Pulver finished with 16 points while Ben Humrichous added 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and four blocks.

For the game, Alford’s crew connected on 39 of their 71 field goal attempts for 54.9 percent which included draining 11 three-pointers at a clip of 52.4 percent. HU was unblemished at the charity stripe by hitting all 11 of their tries.

Will Graves came off the bench for SOU to lead a balanced attack with 13 points. Other double-digit scorers for the Raiders included Dominic McGarvey (11), Atmar Mundu (11), Tez Allen (10) and Tre Carlisle (10).

The win sends the Foresters home from the Flagship Inn Classic with a 4-1 record. Saturday is opening day of league play and has Huntington hosting Goshen at 3:00 p.m.