Huntingdon knocks off Berry to open men’s basketball season

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team opened the season with an 88-79 win over Berry College on Wednesday night.

Five Hawks combined for 74 points to lead Huntingdon to its first 1-0 start since the 2008-09 season.

Junior Kyante Pines, in his first game as a Hawk, led Huntingdon with 23 points. Pines also had six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Brandon McLean added 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a block and Isaiah King followed with 13 points, five assists and three steals. R.J. Jones finished with 11 points and six rebounds and Cam Boyd had 11 points and five rebounds.

Charvez' Hobson had a team-high eight rebounds and four steals, Jaleel Beeman pulled down six rebounds and Bryant Reid had five assists.

The Hawks rallied from a 10-point deficit in the first half and trailed 40-39 at halftime. In the second half, Huntingdon took control with a 24-7 run and led by as many as 15 points in the final five minutes of the game.

Trailing 45-41 less than a minute into the second half, the Hawks took control and built a 65-52 lead with 9:39 left in the game. A 3-pointer by Boyd with 13:01 remaining in the game put the Hawks in front for good and layup by McLean capped the run.

A basket by John Jay Graves gave the Hawks their largest lead of the night, 74-59 with 4:25 to play.

Records: Huntingdon (1-0); Berry (0-1)

Quick Facts: Huntingdon outrebounded the Vikings 60-34 on Wednesday … after hitting 16-of-46 shots from the field in the first half (34.8%), Huntingdon was 18-for-37 in the second half (48.6%)

Coming Up: Huntingdon plays in the Daly Seven Tip-Off Classic at Guilford College on Friday and Saturday. The Hawks open the tournament against Hampden-Sydney on Friday at 4 p.m. (Central)