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Huntington's hot start too much for USF
   FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Too late, too little was the frustrating story for the University of Saint Francis in its Mid-Central Conference opener on Tuesday night.
   Huntington used a 26-4 scoring outburst during a 10-minute stretch in the first quarter and the NAIA seventh-ranked Foresters defeated USF 75-62. USF clawed to as close as 12 points with 8:42 to play, but no closer in the time remaining.
   John Gensic scored 14 of his team-leading 20 points in the second half and led USF to a 39-32 advantage in the second half. Zach Beiswanger added 11 points. It wasn't enough to overcome the Foresters' first half when they connected on 54 percent (15 of 28) of their shots, 58 percent (7 of 12) from 3-point range.
   "I thought we put forth a much better effort in the second half and was on the verge of cutting their lead to single digits if we could've dropped in a couple shots," USF Coach Jeff Rekeweg said. "We challenged shots with our hands down and they hit shots off the dribble and hit them spotting up.
   "Give them credit for hitting open shots, but we have got to challenge shots. You can't give a team that shoots that well so many open looks."
    Once the Foresters (15-3, 1-0 MCC) found their shot, they turned the screws tighter hitting shots when USF did challenge shots.
   "There was one shot (Justin) Riegsecker hit in the second half, after we'd worked to get it down to 12, and I couldn't have asked Chase (Holden) to do any more than he did challenging that shot," Rekeweg said.
   Reigsacker, who came into the game with a 12.4 scoring average, led HC with 24 points including 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. Adam Hill added 20 points and Brett Snodgrass 18. HC outscored USF (10-9) from 3-points range 39-18. USF's bench outscored HC's bench 25-3, but HC limited USF's leading scorer, Holden at 15.3 points a game, to a season-low four points and ended his string of double figure games at 10.
    Gensic connected on two free throws with 8:39 and USF had pulled to within 58-46. But a Reigsecker 3-pointer pushed the difference to 61-46. Gensic missed a free throw, then made the second trimming the HC lead down to 12 again, 61-49, with 4:56 to play, but HC scored the next six points and USF got no closer than the final 13-point difference.
    USF resumes MCC play on Saturday (Jan. 11) at Grace at 3 p.m.

-- GO USF --

 

 


  

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