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01.13.09
- After leading the entire overtime period by as many as five with three
minutes to play, the Foresters needed one final stop to secure the
win, but Spring Arbor's D. J. Baisden drained a three from the left
side as time expired to steal the 85-83 victory. The loss
drops HU to 13-7 on the season and keeps HU winless on the road in
conference play with a 2-4 record.
The Foresters grabbed the early
lead in the contest, but Spring Arbor kept things close throughout
the first 11 minutes of play. At the 8:26 mark with HU ahead 25-22,
Tyler Shively knocked down a trey that sparked a 17-4 run giving the
Foresters their largest lead of the game at 42-26. But the
Cougars fought back, and by intermission, had whittled HU's lead
back to single digits at 47-38.
Spring Arbor then
scored the first eight points of the second half to pull within one
just two minutes into the period. HU's Luke Smith finally
ended the streak with a field goal at the 17:46 mark. The
Foresters increased their advantage back to eight at 57-49 with 14
minutes to play, but another 8-0 Cougar run knotted the score at
57-57 at the midpoint of half.
The remainder of
the half saw seven lead changes and four ties with the last one
coming at 75-75 with 1:42 to go. Down the stretch, Spring
Arbor missed two field goals and had a turnover while HU had two
miscues, but had the ball for the final shot. Kyle Benge drove
hard to the hoop, but missed the left-handed layup to send the game
to an extra period.
Kevin Kyle put
the Foresters up two on their first possession with a pair of free
throws and they increased the margin to as many as five on a field
goal by Kyle with just under three minutes to play. The
Cougars got back within one at 81-80, but a Benge jumper made it
83-80 with 56 seconds left. Dirail Flenorl connected on two
charity tosses with 43 ticks left to make it 83-82. HU used
the clock and Shively missed a jumper with 10 seconds to go setting
up Baisden's heroics as the buzzer sounded.
HU's Kyle took
game-high honors with 21 points in the game. Joining him in
double figures was Kellen Zawadzki with 19, Shively with 17 and a
game-high six rebounds and Benge with 16. Rob Boss paced the
Cougars with 19 points. Baisden finished with 13 and Richard
Blair and Josh Brandt both added 11 off the bench.
Box Score
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