Offensive Excellence Propels Trojans to 93-83 Victory Over Saint Francis

UPLAND, Ind. – Taylor's excellent offensive display on Wednesday night fueled a 93-83 Crossroads League victory over visiting Saint Francis (9-16, 4-11 CL) inside Odle Arena.

The Trojans put on an offensive clinic, shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 51.9 percent from beyond the arc while assisting on 29 of 36 field goals against the Cougars.

In a game it never trailed; Taylor came out firing, hitting its first two shots and racing out to a 12-6 lead less than four minutes into the action.

After the lead was trimmed to a pair, TU hit a layup and followed it with a pair of triples from Nate Paarlberg and Anthony McGhee to push the advantage to 20-8. Paarlberg was 4-5 from beyond the arc and carded 14 points and four rebounds in 25 minutes on the floor.

Every time Taylor looked to pull away, Saint Francis snuck back into the contest and eventually knotted the score at 28 with just over five minutes remaining before halftime.

Carson Gould dished out a pair of his game-high 11 assists on the next two possessions to get the lead back up to six. Gould reached double-digit assists for the second time this season and is third in the CL with 124 helpers this season.

TU led by seven before the Cougars hit a buzzer-beating three to cut the deficit to 44-40 at the break.

The lead for Taylor rose to 56-44 quickly after a field goal from downtown by Izaiah Day, who tallied 25 points, four assists and three boards while draining four threes.

The Cougars clawed back into the game cutting the deficit to four before four straight points from junior forward Pete Combs gave TU a 68-60 lead. Combs scored a game-high 27 points on an efficient 10-14 shooting including a perfect 2-2 mark from beyond the arc and 5-5 line from the charity stripe. Comb added six assists and six rebounds in an outstanding showing from the Bloomfield, Indiana native.

Gould scored his first points with 5:10 left in the contest to give TU an 81-70 lead, but Saint Franis scored the next eight points to get the closest it had been since the first half.

The cool-headed junior leaders, Combs and Day, scored the next six points for TU before Gould assists a triple by Anor Wogar and Paarlberg hit a game-clinching three with 21 seconds left for the final tally of the night.

Taylor controlled the boards with a 36-26 advantage and the excellent shooting led to the win despite giving away 15 turnovers which resulted in 19 Cougar points.

Taylor (18-7, 10-5 CL) celebrates senior day on Saturday, February 14th before playing No. 19 Huntington (19-6, 10-5 CL) at 3:00 pm in a game with huge implications for the CL tournament, with the winner in the driver's seat for a coveted top-4 finish to get to host a quarterfinal matchup.