HUNTINGTON, Ind. — The Goshen College men's basketball team opened its Crossroads League season with a win for the third year in a row, using a 25-2 second-half run to upend Huntington University 94-90 Tuesday night at Platt Arena.

Huntington shot 59 percent (19-for-32) from the floor in the first half and led 51-37 at halftime, pulling ahead by as many as 21 points with 13:21 remaining. The Foresters (6-2, 0-1) still led 77-59 with 11:21 left in regulation.

Conner Funkhouser drained a 3-pointer 14 seconds later to pull the Maple Leafs (5-2, 1-0) back to a 15-point deficit, Goshen's defense held HU without a field goal for eight minutes and 21 seconds, and the Maple Leafs knocked down seven of their next 11 shots to take an 84-79 lead with 3:38 to play.

"That run was the key stretch in tonight's game," said Goshen coach Neal Young. "They scored 79 points right around the 9:00 mark and then we got eight straight stops. In the first half they were making everything and we just weren't executing. They hurt us in three specific ways and we adjusted at halftime, then executed really well to take them away. I think our defense in the second half was even better than the percentages show because Huntington hit some tough 3s and made some contested shots right at the end of the shot clock."

The Foresters cooled off to 50 percent (13-of-26) in the second half, while Goshen improved from 42 percent (15-for-36) in the first half to 60 percent (18-of-30) in the second.

Xavier Newson, who missed just one shot for Goshen in the second half, led the Maple Leafs with 20 points. Kevin Phillips, who made GC's first three buckets after halftime and six points of the 25-2 spurt, had 19. Christian Grider added 17 while Funkhouser and Devin Heath-Granger scored 13 and 12, respectively, to make five Maple Leafs in double figures.

"Tonight our guys did a great job of recognizing the open man and making the offense run that way," Young said. "We knew that it would just be a matter of time until we got going: a lot of times what it takes is one guy to get hot and everyone feeds off of that. Tonight Kevin was that spark and several guys stepped up from there."

Goshen finished the night with a 36-27 edge on the glass, limiting its opponent to four offensive rebounds for the third time in four games. Newson retrieved a game-high seven caroms while Funkhouser, Grider and Dominique Cartier had five each.

Goshen finished the night with 15 assists against nine turnovers, while HU racked up 22 dimes on 32 made baskets. Forester point guard Mike Bush finished with 14 assists, the most in a regulation game between two NAIA schools this year, while Heath-Granger led Goshen with six.

After starting the game 4-for-19 from the floor, GC made 29 of its last 47 shots.

"I'm really proud of how emotionally consistent our guys were tonight," Young said. "This team was on the floor when it was mostly freshmen and sophomores. Now they are mostly juniors and seniors, and tonight that maturity showed."

That maturity can only help the Maple Leafs moving into their next two games, which come at home against the top two teams in the nation in the preseason poll. Second-ranked Indiana Wesleyan comes calling at 7 p.m. Tuesday night and top-ranked Saint Francis visits at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3.