Huntingdon men tied for third in conference standings

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon men's basketball team pushed its winning streak to five games with an 80-74 win over Covenant on Saturday.

With four conference wins in the past five games, Huntingdon (6-11) has climbed into a tie for third in the USA South Athletic Conference standings. Maryville is first with an 8-0 conference record, Averett is second at 6-2 in the conference and the Hawks are tied with LaGrange at 5-3 in the USA South.

"We're playing well at the right time," Huntingdon head coach Mike Pugh said. "We've moved up in the conference standings the past few games and we have another important stretch coming up. We have to play Piedmont twice, Maryville twice and we play Covenant and LaGrange one more time each. We just have to keep working and continue to come out ready to play each game."

Against Covenant (8-12, 3-6 USA South), Huntingdon trailed early, built a 19-point lead early in the second half and held off a late Covenant rally. Leading by three, 64-61, with 4:30 to play, the Hawks used three field goals and hit 10-of-14 free throws to seal the win.

Senior Jason Varney hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to help close out the game. He was 10-of-14 from the free-throw line for the game and matched his season-high of 22 points for the third time in the last four games. Varney also had four assists.

"Jason is playing really well for us. He is playing like you expect a senior to play," Pugh said. "He is sure of himself and he's playing with confidence. When we're in a tight game, he wants to be the guy on the free-throw line."

Senior Austin Hill, who is averaging 21 points per game, finished with 15 points and Jerome Davis added 10 points. Terry Moorer had eight rebounds and two blocks and Andre Ashley pulled down seven rebounds.

The Hawks step out of conference play on Monday, hosting Victory College at 7 p.m. Huntingdon returns to conference play on Feb. 8 at Piedmont.