No. 14 Bellevue Stuns No. 3 Huntington in NAIA Opening Round

HUNTINGTON, Ind. – A postseason run that held high hopes for the Huntington men's basketball team came to a sudden halt Friday night as the 3rd-seeded Foresters suffered a 62-58 loss to 14th-seeded Bellevue in opening round action of the NAIA National Tournament presented by Ballogy inside Platt Arena.

The result was one of nine first-round games across the country where a lower seed toppled a higher seed.

Huntington and Bellevue had only met once previously, with the Foresters edging the Bruins 81-78 during the 2018-19 season at the Ness Bros. Hall of Fame Classic. This time around, Bellevue flipped the script.

The Bruins entered the tournament with a 22-7 record after finishing as the regular season runner-up in the Frontier Conference to earn an automatic berth. Huntington, meanwhile, secured one of the tournament's 29 at-large bids and was making its 13th NAIA postseason appearance while hosting the opening rounds for the second straight year. During the regular season, Coach Jared Jauch's squad notched seven wins over Top 20 opponents.

Despite the difference in seeding, the contest proved to be evenly matched early on. Huntington used a late surge in the first half to take control.

Trailing 26-25 with 2:30 remaining before the break, the Foresters scored the final five points of the half, capped by a buzzer-beating three from Miles Good to give HU a 30-26 advantage at intermission. Huntington continued that momentum out of the locker room, opening the second half on a 5-2 run to claim its largest lead of the game at 35-29.

From there, the tide turned.

Bellevue responded with a decisive 30-7 run that began just a minute into the second half and stretched nearly ten minutes. During that stretch, Huntington's offense struggled to find rhythm, scoring just 12 points over the first ten minutes after halftime while the Bruins seized control of the game.

Bellevue pushed its lead to a game-high 59-42 with nine minutes to play before the Foresters mounted a late charge.

Huntington showed grit in the closing minutes, trimming the deficit from 16 points at the five-minute mark to just six with under a minute remaining. Bellevue went scoreless over the final five minutes, leaving the door open, but the Foresters were unable to capitalize, missing four attempts from beyond the arc down the stretch. Landon Biegel's putback was HU's only basket in the final minute.

Huntington finished the night shooting 38.2 percent from the floor (21-for-55) and 18.8 percent from three-point range (3-for-16) while going 13-for-21 from the free throw line. Bellevue connected at a 45.3 percent clip (24-for-53) and knocked down 9-of-16 from long range. The Bruins also held a 43-31 advantage on the glass.

Kaden Johnson led the Foresters with a game-high 22 points, adding eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Miles Good followed with 11 points, including the buzzer-beating triple to close the first half, while Keylane Lasisi chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Landon Biegel added five points and five boards off the bench.

For Bellevue, Jaden Phillips and Mathok Mathok each scored 13 points to pace the Bruins. Jermaine Haliburton and Connor Mohr added nine points apiece, while Deng Jal contributed seven points off the bench.

With the victory, Bellevue advances to the second round where the Bruins will face 6th-seeded Graceland Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. with a berth to the final site in Kansas City on the line.

The loss ends Huntington's season at 22-9.

The Huntington University Foresters compete in 18 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 181 NAIA All-America honors and 631 All-America Scholar Athlete honors. Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. Huntington has a top quartile ranking in the 2026 U.S. News Best Regional Universities Midwest Rankings.