MEN’S BASKETBALL

Taking a break from conference play, the HU men’s basketball team cruised to a 101-60 win over East-West Tuesday night at Platt Arena. The win bumps Huntington’s overall record to 5-5 on the year.

These two programs started meeting up in 2018 with the Foresters a perfect 4-0 against the Phantoms. The average margin of victory has been just over 37 points, so tonight’s win was business as usual for Alford and crew.

While HU stretched the lead to as many as 50 at 83-33 with eight minutes to go, East-West got hot in the final few minutes to cut into their deficit by nine for the final 41-point spread. Twelve Foresters spent time on the hardwood with four landing in double digits. Lane Sparks led the pack with 27 points having gone 11-for-16 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the line.

Mitchell Wilson erupted for a season-best 17 points which included a rare four-point play. Zach Goodline and Joel Dyer chipped in 11 points each.

Goodline also dished out a game-best six assists, corralled seven rebounds and swiped four steals. Landen Jordan made his presence known in the paint. When he wasn’t hauling in one of his 11 rebounds, he was swatting shots to finish with a career-best seven blocks. He also tossed in eight points and snagged three steals.

The Foresters established their dominance within the first few minutes by bolting in front 9-0. Within the first eight minutes it was a 20-point game at 24-4 with no signs that HU was slowing down. By halftime it was a 56-20 disparity. While the second period was a more evenly played 20 minutes, the damage had already been done.

Jaha Jackson finished with 25 points to lead the Phantoms with all but five of those points coming in the second frame. Jabriel Johnson added eight points and nabbed nine rebounds. Ashraf Yakubu also collected eight points in the losing effort.

The Foresters are off until December 16 when they take on Carroll at the Cactus Classic in Chandler, Arizona.