Huntington, Ind. - The Marian men's basketball team battled early with Huntington, but were unable to keep up late as the Foresters ran away with an 82-63 victory on Saturday. Marian drops to 11-13 overall on the season, while sliding to 5-9 in the Crossroads League.

Huntington pushed ahead early on Saturday, beginning their wire-to-wire win over Marian with an 8-0 run. The Knights snapped their string of missed shots with a three-point play from Gavin Foe, as the fourth-year player helped charge an 11-6 run to get within three points by the first media stoppage in the game. A turnover after the media timeout gave Marian a chance to tie the game and extend their offense, but Dylan Moles was unable to connect from deep, and the Foresters answered the miss with five quick points.

Marian would play the majority of the final 10 minutes of the first half trailing by double figures, as Huntington continued to convert on the offensive end of the floor. Dylan Moles and Luke Carroll kept Marian with four scores as the duo maintained chunks of the scoring, however it was not enough to keep the home team down. Four points from Moles in the final two minutes of the first half allowed Marian to whittle the lead to nine points on separate occasions, however a late foul committed on the former Knight Maximus Gizzi sent Huntington to the line, allowing them to establish a 46-36 halftime lead.

The halftime intermission failed to cool off Huntington's scoring abilities, as they opened the second half on a 5-0 run to push their lead to five scores. Gavin Foe and Reis Butcher played a hand in decreasing the deficit after the quick start, as the team was able to claw within eight after six minutes of play. Trailing by a 53-45 count, Marian came up short in continuing their run, allowing Huntington to take another chop at building their lead. The home team rattled off three consecutive makes from the field and foul line to push their lead back into double figures, as they led 63-51 with under 10 minutes to play. 

Another 5-0 run by Huntington after the second media timeout in the half allowed the Foresters to run their lead back to 15 points, putting their hold on the game. Lane Sparks matched Marian's comeback efforts, as the senior countered Aidan Franks and Gavin Foe to keep the lead above 10 points. Marian would make one final push in the last five minutes as they drew within 10 points, but a three from Cade Brenner with 3:11 to play sealed the game, as Huntington closed out their 82-63 victory.

Marian shot a modest 44.8 percent from the field Saturday, while Huntington burned the nets with a 54.7 percent mark for the game. Franks and Foe tied for the team lead on Saturday in scoring, with each player scoring 16 points. Dylan Moles finished the game with 13 points, and Reis Butcher led the bench with nine points in the defeat. 

The Knights will aim to bounce back at home on Wednesday night, as they host a top-25 Bethel team at 7:30 p.m.

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