MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Taylor Trojans got the best of the #RV Forester men’s basketball team Wednesday night by escaping Platt Arena with an 81-68 win.  The loss is HU’s first on their home turf and in conference play as they move to 7-2 overall, 2-1 in CL action.

For Taylor, it’s their first league victory as they improve to 4-4 overall which includes a 1-2 CL record. TU got things rolling right away by rattling off the game’s first seven points. By the 15:38 mark it was a 14-2 ballgame with the guests clearly in the driver’s seat.

Down 29-16 with just over six minutes left in the period, Alford and crew pieced together an 11-0 run over a two-minute span to reduce the gap to just two points at 29-27. It had all the makings of a turning point for the hosts but unfortunately the Trojans weren’t having it. Instead, they went into lock down mode defensively to hold the Foresters to two points the rest of the frame to take a 36-29 advantage into the locker room.

Huntington stayed within striking distance throughout the first seven minutes of the second half which included chiseling their deficit to a single possession at 41-38 but because scoring only came in bits and pieces, it was a short-lived glimmer of hope.

Taylor went back to work, and it was Gavin Yoon’s fourth trey of the night that gave his team a permanent double-digit lead of 62-50 with just under eight minutes to go. Four minutes later TU had nearly doubled their advantage on the way to the lopsided win.

Yoon finished with 16 points as did Grant Niehaus, but it was Jason Hubbard who stole the show with 25 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists. Anton Webb came off the bench to offer 15 points for the Trojans.

Zach Goodline and Hank Pulver each tossed in 16 points to lead the Foresters. Lane Sparks added 14 points while Ben Humrichous finished with nine.

It was a very uncharacteristic night for the Foresters who came into the contest averaging 93.5 points. Huntington posted a season-low 40.3 shooting percentage (25-for-62) which included knocking down a season-low three triples.

HU is on the road Saturday to face Mount Vernon at 3:00 p.m.