Huntingdon men's basketball falls to UNA in exhibition play

FLORENCE, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team closed out the preseason with an exhibition game at the University of North Alabama on Sunday.

The Division III Hawks wanted a good test before Tuesday's season opener and the Division II Lions provided it. Five players scored in double figures as UNA shot better than 49 percent for the game and beat the Hawks 101-74.

"For an exhibition game, you like to play up if you can and North Alabama has a really good team this year," Huntingdon head coach Mike Pugh said. "UNA lost to Ole Miss and Middle Tennessee in their exhibition games and they have beaten Clark Atlanta and Morehouse. They're already pretty well fine tuned.

"A game like this really helps you figure out where you are and what you need to work on."

 Despite being the defending Great South Athletic Conference champions, the Hawks are a relatively inexperienced team. Only two players (seniors Jacob Moody and D'Awvalo Turnipseed) saw significant playing time last season.

"We have a lot of new guys and a lot of young guys this year," Pugh said. "We've spent a lot of time learning to play together and figuring out the best combinations. We're certainly not where we want to be yet, but I'm seeing some good things."

The Hawks open the season on Tuesday. Huntingdon hosts Birmingham-Southern at Roland Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

Against UNA, Ryan Petty and Kanden Blackmon led the Hawks with 15 points apiece. Jeremiah Thomas added 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Moody grabbed six rebounds and Turnipseed finished with nine points.

Huntingdon gave up 20 points off of turnovers in the first half as UNA took a 54-33 lead into halftime.

"I was happier with the way we played in the second half," Pugh said. "We had 12 turnovers in the first half and we just dug too deep of a hole. But we competed better and played more evenly in the second half."

Warrick Mastin led UNA with 19 points. Theron Jenkins added 16 points, Nick Luttrell followed with 13 points and seven rebounds, Nathan Spehr had 12 points and Beaumont Beasley finished with 11 points.