MEN’S BASKETBALL

The 3rd-seeded HU men’s basketball team is headed to the semifinals of the Crossroads League Tournament after taking care of business against 6th-seeded Saint Francis, 95-83, Tuesday evening in the friendly confines of Platt Arena.

While the quarterfinal matchup between these two squads was intense throughout the entirety of the contest, Huntington was in the driver’s seat for all but the opening four minutes. It was a Lane Sparks three at the 16-minute mark of the first half that put his team up for good at 11-7.

The lead was double digits at 22-10 four minutes later on Landen Jordan’s traditional three-point play with the difference never dipping to single digits after that. By halftime, the Foresters had grown the advantage to 51-29 behind Sparks and Maximus Gizzi. The pair tag-teamed for 25 points highlighted by five triples between them.

As a team, Alford’s crew finished the half 7-for-12 from deep. Their defense was also on point having forced 11 first half turnovers that resulted in 14 points. The Foresters kept their foot on the gas, opening up the second frame with an alley-oop dunk from Jordan.

It was the first of five dunks for Jordan in the final twenty minutes. Huntington’s largest lead of the evening was less than five minutes into the second period on a breakaway layup by Lane Sparks for a 68-37 difference. Drew Goodline had nailed two three-pointers within a 60-second span just prior and then dropped in one more 30 seconds after Sparks’ layup to fire up the home crowd.

While the Cougars (17-12) made a run to close out the game, it was too little too late. The win is HU’s second over USF having just picked up a 22-point win over the Cougars earlier this month.

Sparks finished with a team-best 24 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jordan scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half. He also ripped down a team-leading eight rebounds and handed out three dimes. Goodline tossed in 16 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals.

After scoring 11 in the first half, Gizzi finished with 13 points while dishing out four assists. Jackson Paul had similar numbers, posting 12 points and four assists.

Luke Almodovar topped all scorers with 26 points. Joining him in double figures for the Cougars was Joe Reidy with 19 and Isaiah Malone with 17.

With this win, Huntington improves to 23-6. Next up is a trip to 2nd-seeded Bethel on Friday for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off with the Pilots.