HUNTINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men's basketball team suffered its third consecutive hard-fought defeat Thursday evening as they fell to Huntington University, 74-73, inside Platt Arena. It was the first meeting between the two teams since November 3, 2010.
 
Rog Stein notched his third double-double of the season with a game-high 19 points and 13 rebounds to go along with four assists, while Grant Smith had 14 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Josh Kline recorded 14 points and six rebounds while Max Perez had nine points, five rebounds and two assists.
 
The Warriors jumped out to a 5-0 thanks to a basket from Stein and a triple from Perez, but then went cold for the next three minutes as the Foresters went on a 7-0 run to take the lead at the 14:34 mark. Tech responded with a 9-2 run to go up 14-10 at the 12:43 mark, with Perez hitting another three-pointer. The two teams continued to trade leads and ties over the next six minutes with the Foresters gaining some momentum with a 6-0 spurt to go up 34-28 at the 4:45 mark. Huntington continued to build their advantage over the rest of the half, eventually growing the lead to 10 points before entering the locker room leading 47-38.
 
Tech go back into the game quickly though as they opened the second half on a 9-2 spurt to come within two points of the hosts at the 17:35 mark, but the Foresters pushed the lead back up to eight points at the 15:49 mark with the scoreboard reading 55-47. Two and a half minutes later though it would read 57-57 as the Warriors came roaring back, with Smith converting a four-point play to tie the game up with 12:37 to play, the eighth time that the two teams had been knotted up. Huntington would go back up four possessions later, and held on to the lead for the rest of the contest despite numerous efforts from the Orange and Black. Trailing by eight with 5:09 on the clock, Tech would go on a 10-3 run over the next four minutes to make it a 74-73 game and 1:40 to play. The Warriors would get five opportunities to take the lead, but were unable to get any shots to fall, including a triple from Smith as the buzzer sounded.
 
Tech (6-5) is slated to return to action on Wednesday, December 30 as they travel to No. 1-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University for a rematch from their game in the WHAC/CL Challenge back on Halloween. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from Luckey Arena.