Taylor Rides Fast Start to 82-69 Win at Huntington
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HUNTINGTON, Ind. – Taylor scored 18 of the game’s first 20 points and never trailed on the way to an 82-69 road win over Huntington on Wednesday inside Platt Arena. The win marked TU’s fourth-straight over the Foresters and its third-straight win at Huntington.
No. 24 Taylor opened the contest by making eight of its first nine attempts from the floor, including its first four tries from three-point range to bolt to a 23-4 lead and stayed hot en route to a 47-26 advantage at the half.
The Trojans shot 65.4 percent from the field in the first stanza, outscoring HU (6-11, 2-3 CL) by a 14-0 margin off the bench and a 10-4 count off turnovers. TU also stymied the Forester offense by limiting the hosts to a 32.3-percent rate from the field and a two-of-12 showing from deep.
Evan Crowe and Vincent Miranda highlighted the opening period for the Purple and Gold, as the two combined for 24 points on nine-of-10 shooting.
The second half started with a quick surge from Huntington that narrowed the margin to 14, but Taylor countered the push by opening the spread back to 21 at 63-42. HU then methodically chipped into the deficit, eventually pulling within six points on the heels of an extended 21-8 stretch.
Mason Degenkolb delivered the dagger with a triple off an offensive rebound and kick out from Tim Fleming that gave TU a 74-65 lead with 4:40 to play and Ryan Robinson iced the victory from the charity stripe with eight-straight makes over the final 1:13 of game action.
Taylor shot 52.7 percent for the game, despite cooling over the final 20 minutes and posted 17 assists to just nine turnovers. TU also held Huntington to a 40.3-percent clip from field and rode the play of Robinson and James McCloud for a decisive, 34-6, edge in points off the bench.
Robinson finished with a team-high 19 points with a 10-of-10 showing from the free throw line and added five assists and four rebounds. The 19-point effort pushed the sophomore guard over the 500-point plateau for his career.
Crowe and Miranda each closed with 14 points, combining to knock down 10-of-15 shots and five-of-eight looks from downtown, while McCloud was on target on each of his four field goal attempts to end with 10 points.
Degenkolb and Fleming each finished with five assists to spur the attack and Emmanuel Boateng grabbed a team-best six rebounds. The five assists from Fleming pushed the senior point guard over 300 helpers for his career.
No. 24 Taylor (11-6, 2-3 CL) will conclude a season-long stretch of six-straight road games when it plays at Marian (11-6, 1-4 CL) on Saturday, January 6 at 3:00 pm.
