Huntingdon men’s basketball earns first win of the season

GREENSBORO, N.C.. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team opened USA South Athletic Conference play with an 89-88 win over Greensboro on Saturday.

The win was the first of the season for the Hawks (1-6, 1-0 USA South) and snapped a six-game losing streak. Greensboro dropped to 3-7 (0-1 USA South) with the loss.

"This win felt good for all of us," said Huntingdon assistant coach Tommy Bracknell, who is filling in for head coach Mike Pugh as he recovers from the flu. "We played hard and we played with confidence. We're happy to get the win and start the new year off the right way."

In his first game with the Hawks, T.C. Elmore led Huntingdon with 21 points. Austin Hill added 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds and Alex Layson followed with 14 points. Dantavius Washington finished with 10 points.

A tight game from the start, neither team led by more than six points until the final four minutes of the game. After a first half, that featured 11 lead changes, Huntingdon trailed 49-44 at halftime.

The Hawks continued to battle in the second half and took the lead for good with 6:09 to play on a basket by Hill. Huntingdon took its largest lead of the game, 88-80, on a Terry Moorer layup with 3:27 left.

Greensboro rallied and pulled within a point twice in the final 1:13 of the game. A Jason Varney free throw put the Hawks up by two, 89-87, before Greensboro sank a free throw to make it 89-88 with 49 seconds to play.

Greensboro got the ball back with 16 seconds left but a shot at the buzzer was no good.

Huntingdon returns to conference action on Sunday at Methodist at 2 p.m.