Robinson Unleashes Program-Best Nine Triples in Trojan Victory
Â
UPLAND, Ind. – Ryan Robinson knocked down all eight of his three-point attempts in the second half on Saturday and tied TU’s program record with nine triples in the game, setting a career-high with 36 points in Taylor’s 93-73 win over RV Mount Vernon Nazarene.
A cool-shooting performance from Taylor led to 42-36 deficit at the break, after trailing by as many as 13 with 2:13 to play and never leading in the first 20 minutes of action.
Robinson and Mason Degenkolb quickly erased those struggles, combining for five points in the opening 40 seconds to draw TU within a single point and Robinson’s second trey of the half knotted the score at 45-45.
Evan Crowe followed with a four-point play to give Taylor its first lead of the day, before Robinson buried three-straight long-range daggers in the span of 81 seconds to break open a 58-50 lead and his sixth trifecta of the opening 7:05 of the period pushed the Trojan lead into double figures.
The onslaught continued, as Robinson again dialed it up from beyond the arc and followed the make with two more free throws, pushing the Taylor lead out to 71-54 on the strength of a 35-12 start to the half that featured 24 points from Robinson.
Taylor eventually bumped the spread to 23 and closed out the 93-73 victory, while shooting 15-of-21 from the field in the final 20 minutes and outscoring the Cougars (15-11, 7-7 CL) by a 57-31 margin after the intermission.
Robinson and Degenkolb stole the show, combining for 42 second-half points on 12-of-13 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 from the charity stripe, while outscoring the entire MVNU team by 11 points over the final 20 minutes. Robinson poured in 28 points on eight-of-eight shooting from deep, with Degenkolb adding 14 in the final period.
For the game, Robinson was 10-of-13 from the field and nine-of-11 from three-point territory for 36 points, while Degenkolb closed eight-of-11 from the floor for 27 points to reach 900 points for his young career.
The 63-point outburst from the second-year backcourt duo was the highest combined total in a single game for Robinson and Degenkolb and helped the Trojans to their highest-scoring output since scoring 97 points on Silent Night.
Three other Trojans scored at least seven points, with Jake Heggeland finishing with nine points to go with five rebounds, Crowe adding seven points, six boards and three assists, and Vincent Miranda contributing seven points, four rebounds and one steal. Joe Ingersoll grabbed six defensive rebounds in under nine minutes of work.
Taylor (15-11, 6-8 CL) will look to carry the hot hand across county on Tuesday, when it resumes play at No. 8 Indiana Wesleyan (20-6, 11-3 CL) in a 7:00 pm clash.
