Taylor Erases 20-Point Deficit to Defeat Knights

Taylor Erases 20-Point Deficit to Defeat Knights

UPLAND, Ind. – The Taylor men’s basketball team scored a key home victory over Marian on Saturday to inch up the Crossroads League standings by rallying from a 39-19 deficit to pull out a 68-63 come-from-behind win on Paul Patterson Court.

Marian (16-8, 6-6 CL) entered the contest leading the CL with 90.5 points per game and looked the part over the first 17:17 of game action, as the guests bolted to the 20-point and held Taylor in a 39-19 hole with 2:43 remaining in the opening stanza.

Joe Ingersoll and Mason Degenkolb combined to close the half on a 7-0 stretch to bring the Trojans to within 13 at the break and TU eventually outscored the Knights by a 49-24 count over the final 22:17 of game action.

It took the entire final 20 minutes to claw out of the deficit however, as Marian erased a quick start to the second half by Taylor with a 9-2 burst to push the margin back to 15 with 13:32 left in the contest.

Taylor responded with six-straight points and drew to within five points at the 9:28 mark on Ryan Robinson’s third bucket of the 12-2 charge for TU.

The difference held between four and nine points for the Knights, until a Degenkolb deuce brought TU within a single possession at 60-57 with 5:24 to play and a hoop from Robinson narrowed the margin to just two with 2:24 left.

Degenkolb completed the comeback with a three-point make for a 65-63 lead with 1:04 to play and the sophomore went on to score the game’s final six points to seal the 68-63 comeback win.

The Trojans held MU nearly 28 points below its season scoring average in the contest, limiting the Knights to seven-of-30 shooting in the second half and zero-for-eight from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes, while forcing nine second-half turnovers and winning the battle on the glass by a 26-23 count over that time.

The numbers all went TU’s way in the second half, with Taylor holding a 7-0 edge in transition points, a 20-4 gap in paint points and a 7-0 advantage in second-chance tallies over the final 20 minutes.

The game marked the eighth time in the last nine games that Taylor has limited its foe to fewer than seven three-point makes, while also allowing 80 points or less.

Degenkolb and Robinson combined for 23 second-half points and finished with a combined 28 for the game. Degenkolb led TU with 15 points and five assists, while Robinson added 13. Ingersoll poured in 10 points in the first half and closed with a career-best 13 points on five-of-seven shooting which included two-of-two from deep and Emmanuel Boateng connected on the first two triples of his career to finish with six points, five rebounds and two blocks.

The Trojan bench led the comeback, as Robinson, Ingersoll, Boateng, James McCloud and Keaton Hendricks combined for 38 points on 16-of-33 shooting and sank five-of-11 looks from downtown.

Taylor (14-10, 5-7 CL) will look to extend its two-game win streak, when