Huntington Shoots Past Taylor in Men’s Basketball
UPLAND, Ind. – The visiting Huntington Foresters knocked in 18 three-point shots in 31 tries and held a 17-point cushion at the free throw line to hand an injury-depleted Taylor squad a 94-82 loss on Paul Patterson Court.
The game followed a familiar flow from the team first meeting of the season between the teams, with Huntington (15-10, 5-8 CL) overwhelming the Trojans with a perimeter onslaught and withstanding a second-half comeback from the Purple and Gold.
In the first meeting, HU knocked in 14-of-26 treys and led by 16 in the first half. In Tuesday’s contest, the Foresters also built a 16-point spread in the opening half by shooting 10-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
TU’s second-half rally started near the 14-minute mark on a hoop from Ryan Robinson and back-to-back triples from Vincent Miranda to rattle off eight-straight points and reel the HU lead into single-digits at 67-59.
A three from Robinson again cut the margin to eight and two-straight long balls from CJ Penha off passes from Robinson narrowed the gap to 72-68 with 9:45 remaining in the contest. Robinson then lined up another three-pointer to draw within one but the shot was just long and Huntington buried a three on the other end to push the lead back to seven.
Taylor managed to get to as close as six with 5:55 to play, but faded down the stretch as Huntington continued to pour it on from downtown and iced the game at the charity stripe.
TU caught fire from deep in the second half, shooting nine-of-18 from three-point range and finished 13-of-28 from beyond the arc. Taylor also put six players in double figures, doubled up HU in the paint by a 36-18 total and held an 18-0 advantage in second-chance points.
None of those factors mattered however, as Huntington shot 55.8 percent from the field and 58.1 percent from three, while collecting 18 made free throws to Taylor’s one.
Penha led the Trojans with 19 points and Robinson ended with 16 points and five assists. Miranda closed with 15 points, three helpers and three steals, while Jason Hubbard had 12 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and one steal. Evan Crowe finished with 10 points and seven boards and Jake Heggeland added 10 points and two blocks.
Taylor (11-14, 5-8 CL) will head north to take on No. 5 Spring Arbor (22-3, 12-1 CL) on Saturday at 3:00 pm. TU won the first meeting, 73-67, to hand SAU its lone league loss of the season.