Hawks open season with OT loss at Birmingham-Southern

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  – Damien Madison and Ceaunte Zachery combined for 53 points but the Huntingdon men's basketball team came up short on Monday in a season-opening 87-81 overtime loss at Birmingham-Southern.

Tied 79-79 midway through the overtime period, the Hawks fell behind as Birmingham-Southern went on an 8-0 run. The Panthers capped the run with a free throw to take an 87-79 lead with 20 seconds remaining.

Madison led all scorers with 32 points and Zachery recorded a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. Zachery also had three assists and three steals. Madison, who was 11-for-12 from the free-throw line, finished one point short of his career high.

Huntingdon started strong and built a 10-point lead in the first three minutes of the game. Birmingham-Southern answered and after a back-and-forth first half, the Hawks trailed 39-33 at halftime.

Huntingdon trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half and used a late push to overcome an eight-point deficit in the final six minutes of regulation.

Trailing 64-56 with 5:46 to play, Madison scored seven of the Hawks' next nine points to cut the Panthers' lead to 67-65 with 4:27 remaining. From there, neither team would lead by more than two points for the remainder of regulation.

Huntingdon tied the game three times in the final minutes before taking its only lead of the second half on a pair of Madison free throws with 2:36 remaining. Birmingham-Southern tied the game with 1:08 to play and blocked a last-second shot by the Hawks to help force overtime.

Records: Huntingdon (0-1); Birmingham-Southern (1-0)

Coming Up: Huntingdon hosts East Texas Baptist on Thursday at 3 p.m.