01.26.10 - After having the weekend off, the Huntington University Foresters (15-8, 4-5) opened their second round of MCC play with a 81-75 win over the Trojans of Taylor University (11-13, 2-8).

HU started the game red-hot, jumping to a quick 17-2 lead five and a half minutes into the contest on 8-for-10 shooting.  It was apparent the Foresters were energized by the return of Tyler Shively who capped off the run by knocking down a three.  Both teams played even the rest of the half as the Foresters headed into the locker room up 40-25.  Huntington turned in a solid first half offensive performance by shooting 53.3% from the field, 67% behind the arc (6-for-9), while limiting their turnovers to just six. 

With less than a minute gone in the second half, the Trojans cut the Forester lead to 11 behind the play of Nate Kasper but over the next six minutes, the Foresters outscored the Trojans 19-9 to take their largest lead of the game, 59-38, at the 13:02 mark.  It looked like Huntington would cruise to the win but they couldn't quite shake the scrappy Trojans.  Down 16 with six minutes to play, Taylor turned up the heat on the defensive end and used this momentum to go on a 20-7 scoring spree to close within 76-73 with just under a minute to play.

The free line had not been kind to the Foresters who up until the last minute of play were 10-for-17 (59%) but HU knocked them down when it mattered most as Kellen Zawadzki went 4-for-4 and teammate Colin Featherston hit 1-for-2  to close out the game. 

Caleb Kennedy led four Foresters in double digits with 21 points.  Zawadzki finished with 18.  Bobby Jolliff chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds.  Shively came off the bench to score 13.  Casey Coons had a game-high 24 points to lead the Trojans.  Joining him in double digits were Nate Kasper and Justin Goeglein each with 14, Tommy Peller with 13 and Jake Burkholder with 10. 

Box Score