Huntingdon men’s basketball falls to Concordia in Huntingdon Classic

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For the second time in two games, the Huntingdon men's basketball team battled but came up short in the final seconds in a tight game.

After falling by two points in the season opener, Huntingdon fell to Concordia College on Friday night. The Hornets eased ahead late to win 87-82 in the second game of the Huntingdon Classic at Roland Arena.

The Hawks (0-2) led for most of the game, and led by double digits in the first half. But Concordia (2-3) took the lead with 6:09 to play and didn't trail again. Huntingdon never trailed by more than eight points in the final minutes, but the Hawks couldn't close the gap.

"We missed 13 free throws and we turned the ball over 26 times," Huntingdon head coach Mike Pugh said. "When you do that, you're not going to beat good teams. We just lost our handle on the game tonight. We've got to keep working to improve."

Missed free throws have hurt the Hawks in their first two games. Huntingdon was 13-of-24 from the free-throw line in a season-opening 81-79 loss to 22nd-ranked Birmingham-Southern on Tuesday. The Hawks were 12-of-25 on free throws in the five-point loss to Concordia.

Jeremiah Thomas led Huntingdon with 20 points and 13 rebounds and Ryan Petty added 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Jacob Moody followed with 13 points and D'Awvalo Turnipseed finished with nine points and five rebounds.

Jeremy Sturdivant led Concordia with 22 points, Travis Rasco followed with 17 points, Wesley Conor added 13 points and Marcus Sutton had 10 points.

The Hawks will play 23rd-ranked Hampden-Sydney at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the second day of the Huntingdon Classic. LaGrange and Concordia will close out the tournament at 3 p.m.

In the first game Friday, Hampden-Sydney knocked off LaGrange 99-86. The Tigers (1-0) led by 16 at the half and shot better than 58 percent for the game.

Hampden-Sydney's Harrison George led all scorers with 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

Ben Jesse scored 17 points and Khobi Williamson finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Ru White added 14 points and Randall Ward followed with 12 points.

Peter Munch and Marcus Vaughn led LaGrange (1-1). Munch scored 16 points and Vaughn had 15 points. Joey Anderkavich added 13 points and Denzel Robinson and Aaron Power each scored 11 points.