MEN’S BASKETBALL

Hosting a national tournament of any kind for the first time in school history, the 3rd-seeded HU men’s basketball team (25-7) breezed past 14th-seeded Lourdes, 77-51, Friday night in first round action of the NAIA National Tournament inside Platt Arena.

Aside from the first two minutes when the Gray Wolves (21-9) held a 1-0 advantage, the game was never in question. A Lane Sparks triple along with a Landen Jordan dunk kick started a Forester squad that established a permanent double digit lead eight minutes in and never looked back.

The hosts gave up just six points through the first ten minutes to build a 24-6 lead and then rode that wave for a halftime difference of 39-22. Jordan was just a point and rebound shy of a double double by the midway point. The 6-9 forward had four dunks in the first frame and then racked up three more in the final 20 minutes to put on a show-stopping performance for his home crowd. He finished the night with 17 points and 11 boards.

Alford’s crew enjoyed their largest lead of the contest with six minutes to go when they had built their advantage to 32 at 69-37 on a Romain Bruwier jumper. To no one’s surprise, HU outplayed their guests in nearly every statistical category with points in the paint the most eye-popping disparity at 58-28.

The Foresters also nearly doubled up their counterpart in field goals by going 33-for-58 for 56.9 percent while limiting LU to just 17 buckets at a clip of 31.5 percent.

Lane Sparks was a bucket. He dropped 25 in addition to handing out three assists. In addition to Jordan’s 17, Jackson Paul was the only other Forester to log double-figures with 11 points. He also dished out six assists as did Maximus Gizzi. Cade Brenner came off the bench to net eight points which included back-to-back threes within a 30-second span in the second half.

The Gray Wolves landed two in double figures with Shaunn Monroe tossing in 15 and Derek Fairley adding 12. This was Lourdes’ sixth trip to the big dance with tonight’s loss leaving them winless in tourney play at 0-6.

This season marks the Foresters’ 12th trip to nationals and their 14th tourney win against 11 losses. HU returns to Platt Arena for second round action tomorrow evening. Alford and crew will take on 6th-seeded Northwestern at 6:00 p.m. with the winner advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in Kansas City later this month.