Huntingdon men’s basketball tips off season in BSC Classic

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team will test itself this weekend in the BSC Classic at Birmingham-Southern.

The Hawks open the season against Emory on Friday at 5 p.m. before facing 12th-ranked Birmingham-Southern at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

"We're going to be facing two of the top teams in the country to start off the season," Huntingdon men's basketball coach Mike Pugh said. "These are going to be two good challenges. Birmingham-Southern is ranked 12th and was 25-3 last year. Emory, even though they're not ranked in the preseason, always has a strong team. They were ranked last year and they'll be good again this year."

Pugh said after weeks of preseason practice, the Hawks are ready to see how they match up with someone different.

"You're always excited about the start of the season," Pugh said. "We've had a couple of scrimmages and we played an exhibition game with Alabama State, but other than that we've just been practicing against each other. We're ready to play some different competition."

Coming off a 7-19 season, Huntingdon is looking for better results this season. The Hawks return five players that played in at least 20 games last season and two others that played in 14 or more games. Among the returning players are the Hawks' top six scorers from last season (Jeremiah Thomas, Jason Varney, Ryan Petty, Courtnee Edgar, Austin Hill and Kanden Blackmon). Those six were also the team's top six rebounders last season.

Thomas, Petty, Edgar and Blackmon are four of the seven seniors on the squad, along with Jerrod Lee, DeAngelo Norris and Beau McKinney.

The Hawks have also added some height inside this season. Joining the 6-foot-7 Hill, are Terry Moorer (6-8), McKinney (6-5) and Jake Hataway (6-5).