RV Taylor Pulls Away Late for 89-66 Victory Over Olivet Nazarene

UPLAND, Ind. – A late 12-0 run sealed a convincing win for RV Taylor to conclude the non-league portion of the schedule on Monday afternoon. An 89-66 victory over Olivet Nazarene was fueled by a balanced offensive attack and forcing a bevy of turnovers.

Nate Paarlberg connected on five threes and scored a game-high 21 points after settling in during the second half. Paarlberg hit four of his triples after halftime while adding seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block without a turnover in an all-around terrific display for the senior forward.

The Trojans raced out to 9-0 lead early going, as they hit four consecutive shots after missing the first three of the game. Taylor's defense forced four turnovers before the Tigers scored en route to 15 first half takeaways.

Olivet Nazarene (9-4, 5-0 CCAC) knotted the game at 11 but Taylor's offense responded and slowly bult a 34-18 lead after Anthony McGhee hit a three off a pass by Paarlberg.

The road squad went on a run, holding Taylor without a point for almost five minutes and getting within six before a three by Izaiah Day had TU up 39-30 heading into the locker room.

Taylor (11-3, 3-1 CL) was dormant after the break, letting a nine-point halftime lead drop to a pair in the first two-and-a-half minutes of action.

McGhee kickstarted the Trojan offense, which came to life and proceeded to shoot over 50 percent from downtown in the second half, hitting 10-19, as five different players knocked down at least one.

Freshman guard TJ Davidson stepped up in a big way, playing his most minutes (16) and scoring a season-high 11 points, all of which came in the second half. The Noblesville, Indiana native hit a three after a crossover that left his defender on the floor to push the lead to 57-46 and added an add-one shortly after.

The lead stayed between eight and twelve for the majority of the second until a 12-0 run began with a pair of threes by Paarlberg and was capped by Davidson draining a shot from downtown for a 78-58 lead.

The Trojans forced 21 turnovers and held a 26-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The home squad also dominated the glass, grabbing 40 rebounds and scoring 25 second chance points, while holding the Tigers to just five.

On the offensive end, McGhee and Day matched Davidson with 11 points and Carson Gould led the team with six helpers. As a team Taylor assisted on 23 of 33 field goals and shot 44.7 percent from three-point land as an explosive offense continues to improve.

Taylor jumps back into Crossroads League action on Saturday, January 3rd, with a home matchup against Marian (4-10, 2-2 CL) tipping at 3:00 pm.