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Highlander Men Crush Visiting Bengals, 90-60

(Houghton, N.Y.)—The Houghton College men’s basketball team broke out of a shooting slump near the end of the first half to take control of the game and then pulled away from the visiting University of Maine—Fort Kent Bengals during the second to win 90-60 at the Nielsen Center Wednesday night.

          Mada Abdelhamid (pictured at left) was the game’s leading scorer and rebounder with 21 and eight. Yannick Anzuluni added 17 and seven for the Highlanders, who also got 11 points each from Ben Kopp and Rimgaudas Valaitas. In fact 14 of the 15 players on the Highlander roster had points—starting guard Jon Mannarino was too busy dishing out five assists to break into the scoring column.

          “Early on we played really well defensively but we couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn,” said Highlander Head Coach Brad Zarges, “Then, midway through the first half someone—I think it was Ben Kopp—knocked down a shot and the ice was broken and all of the sudden everyone was making shots, scoring inside. It was a fun game.”

          The Highlanders led by just four (18-14) with six minutes to go in the first half when Kopp hit the three-pointer Zarges was referring to and opened the floodgates. By halftime, Houghton had enjoyed a 17-3 run and built their lead to 18 (35-17).

          About five minutes into the second half, the Highlanders put on another spurt to run their lead up to 33 (71-38) with 7:35 to go, and then coasted down the stretch.

          Houghton’s record improves to 5-7. Their next game is January 15, when they open American Mideast Conference North Division play on the road against Daemen at 7:30 p.m.