MISHAWAKA, Ind. — The No. 10 Bethel Pilots (22-7, 14-4) won the rematch against the Taylor Trojans (14-15, 7-11) in the Crossroads League Quarterfinal on Tuesday night, with Trent Edwards dropping over 20 points against the Trojans in back-to-back games.
Edwards dropped 22 points on 9-13 shooting and 4-5 from the charity stripe, complemented by six assists to lead the Pilots, while Preston Phillips had 12 points on 5-8 from the floor and 1-2 from beyond the arc. Phillips grabbed six boards.
Austin Cripe also scored 12 points, firing 4-for-6 from the field and splashing two triples.
The Pilots dominated off the glass with 39 rebounds to the Trojans’ 19 and took advantage of 14 second-chance points.
Like Saturday’s game, both sides traded the lead early in the game until 6:09 in the first half where Andrew Hedrick splashed a three to give Bethel their first two-possession (30-25) lead since the early minutes of the game.
The Pilots took their largest lead of the opening half (seven points) at 4:50 with a jumper by Edwards.
Taylor tied the game 35-35 with 1:26 left in the half from a deep ball by Anton Webb, but Phillips answered with a jumper out of a timeout to regain the lead at 1:05, 37-35. Jacquay had the final bucket to give BU a 39-35 lead at the half.
The Trojans cut the Bethel advantage to 43-42 off a triple by Kaden Fuhrmann at 17:23 in the second, but the Pilots hit an 11-2 run that was capped by Cripe at 14:14 to separate to a 54-44 advantage.
Taylor snuck back again at 8:16 after making two at the line 62-61, but could not get over the hump until 6:17, where Webb laid it off the glass, taking their first lead (65-64) since 7:54 in the first half.
Cripe put the Pilots back to a double-digit lead with a two at 2:27 left in regulation, then James Anderson made both at the charity stripe at 1:55 to lead 74-68.
Bethel left the Gates Gymnasium with their third win over the Trojans this season and advanced to host the Huntington Foresters, who defeated the Saint Francis Cougars 95-83, on Friday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. for the Crossroads League Tournament Semi-Final.