Huntingdon’s season ends in USA South championship game

DANVILLE, Va.  – The Huntingdon men's basketball team's conference tournament run came to an end Saturday night with a 79-73 loss to Methodist in the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.

The Hawks rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final 30 seconds and cut the Monarchs' lead to four points, 77-73, in the final 10 seconds. But Methodist sealed the game with a pair of free throws with five seconds to play.

With the win, Methodist (18-10) claimed its first conference title since 2005 and advances to the NCAA Tournament. Huntingdon ends the season at 14-14. The 14 wins are the most for the Hawks since the 2005-06 season. This is the second time the Hawks have finished as the USA South Tournament runner-up since 2014.

Huntingdon's Damien Madison and Jacob Champion were named to the All-Tournament team. Madison averaged 20 points per game in three conference tournament games and Champion averaged 14 points per game in the tournament, including the game winning basket in the semifinals.

On Saturday, Madison led Huntingdon with 20 points and Champion added 11 points. James Harris had 14 points, 10 rebounds and three assists and Caleb Toney finished with 13 points.

Huntingdon played from behind for most of the game, but never trailed by more than 10 points. Trailing 36-31 at halftime, Huntingdon briefly took the lead early in the second half. But Methodist regained the lead with a little less than 14 minutes to play and would not trail again.

The Hawks fell behind 71-61 with 2:18 to play, but battled back and made it a four-point game, 72-68, on a pair of free throws by Toney with 53 seconds remaining. Methodist pulled back ahead to a nine-point lead, 77-68, with 30 seconds on the clock before Huntingdon answered one final time.

A 3-pointer by Champion and a layup by Harris allowed the Hawks to pull within four points with five seconds to play before Methodist sealed the game.