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02.07.09
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After falling to Bethel College (24-3, 10-3) on the road earlier in
the season, the Foresters (16-10, 5-7) evened up the series with a
101-95 overtime upset of the NAIA Division II top-ranked Pilots.
Huntington trailed by four with 39 seconds left in regulation after
Bethel's Ryne Lightfoot connected on the second of two free throws.
On the Foresters' next possession, they quickly pushed the ball up
the floor and Kyle Benge scored on a driving layup to pull HU within
two at 79-77. Following a timeout, Bethel's Caleb Laidig
turned the ball over and HU's Kellen Zawadzki cashed in on another
layup to knot the score with 27 seconds on the clock. The
Pilots worked the ball around and got it to their All-American
William Walker for the last shot. His jumper was off the mark
and Benge came up with the rebound to send it to overtime.
The
Foresters scored the first four points in the extra period, but
Bethel evened it up at 83-83 with 3:44 to play. A 6-0 run put
HU in the driver's seat with 2:14 left. The Pilots got within
three with on a Kory Lantz trey with just under two minutes to go,
but the Foresters went 5-6 at the line over the next 1:15 to
increase their lead to eight at 94-86 with 43 seconds remaining.
Bethel again cut it to three at 98-95 with 19 ticks left, but HU
sealed the win with three more from the line.
Bethel
scored the first four points of the contest to take the early lead
and held as much as a 10-point advantage midway through the first
half. The Foresters kept Bethel within range with some timely
long-range shooting and an 8-8 performance at the stripe to trail
just 39-38 at the break.
The
two teams battled to a 45-45 tie over the first three minutes of the
second half. HU then grabbed the lead with a 7-2 run and
pushed the advantage to seven at 60-53 with 11:31 to play. The
Foresters were still up 64-57 when Bethel scored 11 consecutive
points to reclaim a 68-64 advantage with just under six minutes to
play. The Pilots maintained their lead down the stretch until the
Zawadzki layup knotted the score at 79-79 to send the game to the
extra period.
HU’s Tyler Shively topped all scorers in the game with 27 points.
Four other Foresters joined Shively in double figures with Benge
scoring 24, Kevin Kyle with 14, Zawadzki with 13 and Luke Smith with
11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Ryne Lightfoot led Bethel
with 22 points. William Walker finished with 20, Tyler Brown had 15
and Lantz finished with 12.
Box Score
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