Hawks Fall In Overtime To Methodist

LAGRANGE, Ga.- Kicking off the LaQuinta Inn and Suites Classic hosted by LaGrange College, Huntingdon Men's Basketball fell to the Monarchs of Methodist University in overtime, 93-91. 

First Half

The story of the game was established early- as both team's struck early offensively to set the tone for the back-and-forth affair. By the 14 minute mark, four different Hawks found their way to the scoring column(Tyler Mallory, Myles Murphy, Jeremy Autin, and Andersen Madyun) to grab a slight 12-10 lead. The two sides continued to trade scores on each end, with Myles Johnson's five consecutive points keeping Huntingdon ahead 17-16 approaching the 9 minute mark. Methodist kept stride however, taking a temporary 20-17 lead before Myles Murphy evened things up on the ensuing possession. Huntingdon's break came at the 5:24 mark, as a layup for Autin sparked a run that extended the lead to 32-26 with 2:50 left in the half, capped off by a triple from Owen LaRocca, but the Monarchs answered yet again, outscoring the Hawks 9-3 down the stretch to take a 35-32 lead into the break. 

Second Half

The back-and-forth affair continued in the second half, but the opening minutes belonged to Methodist. The Monarchs got things going with a run that saw their lead swell to 44-36 by the 17:13 mark, but Huntingdon battled back in a major way, opening up a 10-0 run in response, highlighted by five consecutive points from Myles Murphy that put the Hawks ahead by two, 46-44, with 15 minutes to go in regulation. From this point, the lead changes resumed momentarily, but the Hawks pieced together another 10-2 run, seeing contributions from Jeremy Autin, Eric Moore, Isaiah Knight, and Marcus Townsend as Huntingdon secured a 56-48 lead nearing the 10 minute mark. Townsend converted on another shot near the basket at the 9:15 mark to push the Hawks lead to 61-50 before Knight's second triple of the afternoon at the 7:15 mark brought the advantage to as much as 14, 68-54, with 7:15 remaining in the second half. Myles Johnson hit another shot from deep to raise the lead to a game-high of 15, 73-58, but Methodist bounced back in a major way, going on a 19-4 tear to even things at 77 inside the final 3 minutes. The Monarchs momentarily completed their comeback at the 1:42 mark, taking an 80-79 lead, but after a few possessions of trading scores and stops, Owen LaRocca hit a clutch three with 31 seconds remaining that handed Huntingdon a 83-82 lead. Methodist followed with a three of their own to take a 85-83 lead with 8 seconds left, but with just three seconds remaining, Isaiah Knight was fouled. He sank the ensuing two free throws to force overtime with the score deadlocked at 85. 

Overtime

Overtime mirrored what we saw in regulation, as the two teams exchanged blows to remain even at 89 with 2:28 to go. At the 2 minute mark, Myles Murphy converted on a layup to hand Huntingdon a 91-89 lead, but these proved to be the Hawks last two points, as Methodist outscored the Hawks 4-0 down the stretch to escape with the 93-91 victory. Today's contest accumulated with 18 lead changes, 14 ties, and a combined 9 double-digit scorers between the two teams.

The Hawks return to action at the LaQuinta Inn and Suites Classic tomorrow, December 18th, as they square off with Baptist University of Florida. Tip-off is set for 2:00 PM CT.