Huntingdon men’s basketball can’t hold off Hiwassee

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon built a double-digit lead in the first half and led by nine points in the second half, but Hiwassee College pulled ahead late for a 75-72 win at Roland Arena on Saturday.

It was Huntingdon's second close loss to the Tigers this season. Hiwassee won the first game 89-85.

Huntingdon (7-15) led 59-50 with 11:24 left in the game, but the Tigers rallied and took the lead for good with 7:37 to play. Huntingdon never trailed by more than five points the remainder of the game, but the Hawks couldn't close the gap.

A Ryan Petty layup cut Hiwassee's lead to a point, 71-70, in the final three minutes. The Tigers went ahead 75-70 with 14 seconds left. Jason Varney scored to make it a three-point game with six seconds left but the Hawks couldn't get a 3-pointer to fall at the buzzer.

Junior Jeremiah Thomas led Huntingdon with 25 points and 14 rebounds, his ninth double-double of the season and his second best scoring and rebounding performance of the season. Varney added 14 points and six rebounds, Austin Hill followed with 11 points and five rebounds and Kanden Blackmon finished with 10 points.

Justin Browner led Hiwassee with 23 points. David Layne and Jeff Golden each scored 10 points for the Tigers.

Huntingdon returns to Roland Arena on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game against LaGrange.