No. 18 HU rides early lead to 82-68 win over Taylor

Huntington, Ind. – The #18 Forester men's basketball team took advantage of Taylor's slow start to run away with an 82-68 win over the Trojans Wednesday night inside Platt Arena.

HU's first two buckets came from downtown with Maximus Gizzi's triple at the 17:31 mark giving his team a permanent lead of 6-4. TU only scored four points over the next five-and-a-half minutes to find themselves in a 17-8 hole that they never were able to recover from. Cade Brenner made sure of that. In less than 60 seconds, the 6-3 guard drained three straight from long range to push Huntington's lead to 26-11 with 11 minutes left in the period.

The two teams played even the rest of the frame for a 45-30 disparity by intermission. The same proved true in the final 20 minutes with Taylor experiencing a slight 38-37 scoring advantage, but the damage had already been done. Thanks to Huntington's work early on, they were able enjoy a double-digit lead throughout the final 30 minutes.  

Offensively, the hosts went 28-for-60 from the floor (for 46.7 percent) which proved six more field goals than TU who went 22-for-58 (for 37.9 percent). Additionally, HU scored 33 points from deep at clip of 42.3 percent while limiting Taylor to seven three-pointers at a rate of 25.0 percent, more than ten percent below their season average.

Lane Sparks led all scorers with 25 points in addition to hauling in seven rebounds. Jackson Paul finished with 16 points. Gizzi filled the stat sheet with 15 points, six assists, five boards and three steals. Landen Jordan came off the bench to add 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Anton Webb, last week's NAIA offensive and defensive player of the week, topped Taylor with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Kaden Fuhrmann and Pete Combs each tossed in 16 points while Chaz Harvey added 12.  

Tonight's win was Huntington's fifth consecutive over the Trojans. HU's record stands at 14-4 overall, 4-4 in CL action. Next up is a trip to Goshen on Saturday with tip-off at 3:00 p.m.

The Huntington University Foresters compete in 18 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 160 NAIA All-America honors and 567 All-America Scholar Athlete honors. Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.