Huntingdon falls on last-second block

Huntingdon falls on last-second block

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half but came up a point short against LaGrange on Wednesday.

LaGrange blocked a Huntingdon shot with two seconds left to pull out a 66-65 win at Roland Arena.

After calling timeout with 13 seconds to play, Huntingdon (7-16, 3-4 Great South Athletic Conference) set up to take the final shot. But Lagrange's Joey Anderkavich blocked Ryan Petty's shot as time wound down. The Hawks fouled LaGrange (11-13, 6-1 GSAC) with less than a second to play, sending Kyron Anderson to the free-throw line. Anderson missed the free throw and time expired.

The ending ruined a strong comeback by the Hawks. Trailing 56-46 with 10:04 to play, Huntingdon quickly cut LaGrange's lead to three points with a Kanden Blackmon 3-pointer, a Petty dunk and a Courtnee Edgar layup.

With 4:21 remaining, Jeremiah Thomas sank two free throws to give the Hawks their first lead since the first half. Tied 64-64 with 2:00 left, LaGrange's Marcus Vaughn hit a layup. Thomas hit one free throw, but missed the second, to make it a one-point game with 1:26 to play.

Thomas led the Hawks with 22 points and tied his career-high, and the Roland Arena-record for a Hawk, with 17 rebounds. Jason Varney added 16 points and Edgar finished with 12 points and five steals.

Anderson led LaGrange with 23 points. Anderkavich finished with 11 points and Aaron Power and Vaughn each added 10 points.

Huntingdon returns to action on Saturday, hosting Piedmont at 4 p.m.