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10.21.06
- The Foresters gave
their fans a taste of what is to come this season with a thrilling
99-96 overtime victory over Athletes in Action (AIA) in an exhibition
game on Saturday.
HU was somewhat undersized in
comparison to
the AIA team which sported several former NCAA Division I players, but
the Foresters made up for their lack of size with physical play and
sharp-shooting.
The Foresters
overcame a six-point deficit
midway through the first half to take a 44-40 lead at the break. In
the second half, HU owned a nine-point advantage at 78-69 with six
minutes left in regulation, but AIA was able to trim it to one at
79-78 over the next three minutes.
A trey by freshman
Luke Smith pushed the Foresters' lead back to four at 82-78 with 2:38
to go, but back-to-back layups by AIA knotted it 82-82. Kyle
Benge hit a floating jumper in the paint to give HU a two-point edge,
but a Forester foul with 13 seconds left put AIA's Jason Faulknor at the
line. He hit both free throws to tie the game and Smith's running jumper
bounced off the back of the rim at the buzzer.
The scored seesawed
back and forth over the first couple minutes of the extra period until
a jumper by Benge, with 2:05 left, gave HU the lead for good at 92-91.
The Foresters got a defensive stop and Kevin Kyle put back a Kyle
Ganton three-point attempt to make it 94-91. AIA went for the
three on their next possession and missed and HU came down with the
rebound. AIA was forced to foul and Jared Yoder hit five of six
charity tosses in the final minute to seal the win.
Smith came off the
bench to lead HU with 24 points. He was 10-19 from the field
including 4-6 from behind the arc. Benge added 20 points and
nine assists, Ganton had 18 points and nine rebounds and Doug
Sheckler finished with 17 points and two blocks.
The Foresters shot
46% from the field and 81% from the line while AIA hit 43% of their
field goals and 74% of their free throws. |
