Shane Merryman scored 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds as the Huntington University men's basketball team held off visiting Purdue North Central, 90-78, on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Merryman hit 10 of 13 shots from the field as Huntington improved its record to 3-0 on the season.
Merryman scored six points as HU jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the start of the game, but PNC fought back to tie the contest at 20-all with 6:54 in the first half. Merryman hit a two-pointer and a three-pointer to spark a 10-0 HU run which gave the Foresters a 30-20 advantage with 3:58 left in the half, and HU went into halftime with a 42-31 lead.
After North Central scored the first bucket of the second half, a Merryman basket gave HU a double digit lead it would maintain for the rest of the contest.
A game after setting a school record for shooting by hitting 75 percent of its field goal tries, the Foresters cooled off to a more normal 55.2 performance against PNC, hitting 32 of 58 from the field to go along with a 20 of 28 effort from the free-throw line for 71.4 percent.
T.J. Short scored 16 points for HU, and Derek Hinen and Tyler Ault added 13 and 11, respectively.
PNC, 0-2, was led by Myles Merchand with 23 points. Ty Kowalkowski tallied 15 points and Justin Reynolds had 10 points.
The Panthers also had a pretty good night from the field, hitting 31 of 59 hosts for 52.5 percent. They hit 13 of 20 free throw tries for 65 percent.
Hinen added a game-high eighth assists to his efforts for HU, and Ault added four asissts. HU had 21 for the contest.
HU held a 34-30 rebounding edge. Freshman Daniel Woll had six for HU.