Jan. 29 was sweep day for the Cougars and Lady Cougars against the Huntington University Foresters. The MVNU women’s basketball team (13-10, 7-4) defeated the Foresters (2-18, 0-9) by a final score of 79-52, and the Cougars men’s basketball team (15-8, 6-5) beat Huntington University (16-8, 5-7) 89-84 at Ariel Arena.
In the men’s match, Huntington led 32-30 at the half, and the entire contest was a back-and-forth affair. After a defensive battle in the first half, both offenses caught fire in the last frame of play as 111 total points were scored in the second half. The Cougars improved on their first-half field-goal shooting from 41.9% to 59.4% in the second half and outplayed the Foresters by a 59-52 margin to secure a five-point victory.
Overall, MVNU shot 50.8% from the field and showed off great balance on offense as it had five players score in double-figures.
Paving the way for the win was Kade Ruegsegger, who led the team with 18 points on 5-for-10 shooting. Ruegsegger also picked up three assists. Clay Hilliard had a huge game off the bench with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, four rebounds and three assists. Kyle Kegley contributed with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also had four steals and a block on the afternoon. Off the bench, freshman Camron Mckenzie scored 13 points on 3-for-5 shooting. Mckenzie made all seven of his free-throws. Carter Jones added 12 points and five assists for MVNU.
Coach Jared Ronai said, “I am really proud of our young men. They stayed the course. They were tough and together during big moments like a veteran team. Multiple guys played key roles on both ends during crunch time and came up with big stops. We are eager to learn and grow from certain scenarios and get better on Monday.”
Strong second half leads Lady Cougars past Foresters
In the women’s game, the Foresters held their own in the first half of play, ending the first quarter with a four-point lead and only trailing by three at halftime. The Lady Cougars came out strong in the second half, pushing the lead to 13 after three quarters and outscoring the Foresters 23-9 in the last quarter of play.
MVNU displayed much better ball movement and execution on offense in the second half. The Lady Cougars finished the game with 24 assists. In its last two wins, MVNU has averaged 26.5 assists per game. The Lady Cougars displayed a balanced attack as seven players were able to score six or more points in the game.
Maggie Coe turned it on for MVNU, finishing with 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting and 4-for-8 shooting from deep. Coe also grabbed three rebounds. Katie Sprang finished with a very efficient 10 points (4-for-6 FG), seven rebounds and three assists. Rylee Pireu finished with 14 points and tied for the game-high in steals with four. Pireu grabbed two rebounds and dished out four assists.
Emily Walker shot 4-for-9 from the field and 4-for-8 from behind the arc to finish with 13 points. She also grabbed five rebounds and led the team with five assists.
Amanda Short, MVNU coach, said, “The first half was not the strongest for us, but I’m proud of the way the players responded after halftime and controlled the second half. We got a lot of consecutive stops, which led to some great fast break looks. We are looking forward to a big week next week.”
