Taylor Rides Degenkolb’s 33 to Comeback Win Over No. 19 USF
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UPLAND, Ind. – Taylor used a career-day from Mason Degenkolb to erase a 19-point deficit and registered a third win against a Top-25 foe this season with a 75-72 triumph over No. 19 Saint Francis on Saturday afternoon.
The Trojans dug out of a 44-25 first-half hole against the Cougars (10-7, 3-3 CL), closing the half on an 11-0 spurt to draw within eight points and riding a wave of momentum into the intermission.
TU continued its push out of the break, scoring the first nine points to extend its rally to 20-0 and took its first lead of the day on a triple from Ryan Robinson for a 45-44 advantage at the 16:10 mark.
USF finally broke its 7:09 scoreless drought with a pair of free throws and added its first hoop in 7:31 of game action to move back in front, but a transition hoop from Robinson pushed the Trojans back up by one and five points from Degenkolb capped a 29-5 rally that opened a 54-49 TU lead.
Neither side claimed a lead of more than two possessions the rest of the way, with Taylor needing to erase one final Saint Francis lead in the closing minutes. Back-to-back buckets from James McCloud and Vincent Miranda gave Taylor a 66-65 lead and another key trey from Robinson put TU on top to stay with 5:23 to go.
Taylor snapped a 10-game skid to USF, improved to 3-4 against nationally-ranked opponents this season and extended its overall win streak to six-straight games with the 75-72 victory.
USF opened the game by hitting 16-of-22 field goals to build the 19-point cushion, but converted on just 10-of-32 looks over the final 23:40. Taylor countered by sinking 23-of-36 looks from inside the arc for a blistering 63.9-percent rate from two-point territory in the contest.
The Trojans also won the battle of the boards by a 33-30 margin to improve to 8-1 this season when outrebounding its opponent.
Degenkolb stole the show on the offensive end, making or assisting 20 of 29 field goals for TU in the contest. The junior set or matched career-highs with 33 points, seven assists and 13 field goals in 17 attempts to pace the Trojans and moved up to No. 32 on Taylor’s all-time scoring charts with 1,251 points.
McCloud posted his first collegiate double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks, while Robinson chipped in 14 points to become the 41st player in TU history to eclipse 1,100 points.
Miranda and CJ Penha provided a spark off the bench, as Miranda turned in five points, four assists and four boards, with Penha adding five points and six rebounds.
Taylor (10-8, 4-2 CL) closed its seven-game homestand with six-straight wins and will look to continue its winning ways at No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan (15-3, 4-2 CL) on Tuesday at 7:00 pm.
