Junior Duo Powers No. 23 Taylor’s Win Streak to 12 with Victory over MVNU

UPLAND, Ind. – No. 23 Taylor (16-3, 8-1 CL) completed the first half of Crossroads League play with an 83-77 victory over Mount Vernon Nazarene inside Odle Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The win extended Taylor's winning streak to 12 games, the longest in over 30 years, and ensured Taylor ended the day with a remarkable 8-1 record in league play, matching the program's best ever start in 2005-06.

The junior duo of Izaiah Day and Pete Combs did the heavy lifting for the Trojan offense, combining for 49 points and an incredibly efficient 18-23 shooting from the field and a 6-9 mark from three-point land. Day added team highs in steals (3) and rebounds (6) to his game-high 29 points while Combs scored 20 and had three rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocks.

Mount Vernon Nazarene (12-7, 4-5 CL) clawed their way back and knotted the game at 73 with under three minutes of play to set up an exhilarating finish.

Combs responded with a pair of triples, his only two of the game, to give TU a 79-74 lead but Peyton Heiss converted an and-one to cut the TU lead to two. Day converted a layup before Heiss missed a triple and a missed front end gave MVNU the ball down four with under 30 seconds remaining.

Pushing the ball up the floor resulted in a turnover and a runout layup by Nate Paarlberg closed the door on the upset for the road squad.

Day and Combs scored all ten points as TU jumped out to a 10-0 lead within the first five minutes and clung to the lead as the Cougars fought back throughout the opening half.

A triple by Abib Abib, who scored 13 points in the first half, cut the lead to one before a pair of threes for Taylor extended the lead to seven until five-straight from MVNU preceded a layup by Combs to go into the half with a score of 41-37.

The Trojans came out with a pair of layups to push the lead to eight as Day provided the assist for both on a day he tallied four. Taylor had another great day moving the ball with 20 assists, led by Carson Gould, who provided five.

After a subpar shooting half to begin the game Taylor was terrific from the field in the second half, shooting 62.5 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from beyond the arc.

MVNU mirrored the Trojans hot shooting after halftime and tied the game at 51 but could not quite keep up as Taylor stretched the lead to 70-63 after a bucket from downtown by Day.

The Cougars got within a bucket before Anor Wogar hit his second three of the second half, fueling his second-straight double-digit scoring game. The freshman had an efficient 12 points, eight of which came in the second.

A hotly contested game had the teams close to even on all major statistics despite Taylor never trailing and having the largest lead of 11 early in the action.

No. 23 Taylor gets a bit of a break before continuing Crossroads League back inside Odle Arena on Saturday, January 24th at 3:00 pm against league-leading No. 1 Grace (19-0, 9-0 CL), who are the final undefeated team in the NAIA.