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01.27.09
- After falling behind by as many as five in the first half, the Foresters
battled back to sweep the season series over Taylor University with
the 65-62 victory.
The Trojans scored the first five
points of the contest, but HU responded with the next six to record
the first of eight lead changes in the half. Taylor matched it
largest lead of the half at 19-14 at the 8:45 mark, but again the
Foresters answered and knotted the score at 22-22 with just under six
minutes to go in the half. The score remained close down the
stretch with the Trojans taking a slim 33-32 advantage at the break.
Early in the second
half, HU gained some momentum and opened up a six-point lead at 42-36
on a field goal by Luke Smith at the 14:12 mark. Taylor kept the
Foresters within reach and went back on top at 47-46 midway through the
period.
With the score tied
for the ninth time in the game at 53, Caleb Kennedy put HU in front
with a jumper with 4:59 to play. After trading threes, Kyle
Benge gave the Foresters a four-point cushion at 60-56 with a pair of
free throws with 2:36 left. Daniel Cox drilled one from behind
the arc to pull the Trojans within one with 50 seconds to go, but
Kevin Kyle came up with a huge field goal as the shot clock wound down
to give HU the 64-61 lead with 15 seconds to play.
Taylor called
timeout to set up a final play, but the Foresters' defense held and
the Trojans were forced to call another timeout with three seconds
left. Rather than allow Taylor a chance to hit a game-tying
trey, the Foresters fouled Cox. He made the first and
intentionally missed the second, but HU's Alex Nafziger came up with
the rebound. The Trojans sent Nafziger to the line and he
knocked down the first and missed the second, but Taylor didn't get a
shot off before the final buzzer sounded.
Benge took
game-high honors with 24 points with Smith and Kyle both chipping in
12 for HU. Cox paced the Trojans with 18 points and Alex
Daniel finished with 14. Taylor's Jacob Bream grabbed a game-leading
seven rebounds.
With both teams
hitting 21 field goals in the contest and the Trojans knocking down
12 treys to just three for HU, the Foresters made up the margin with
a 20 for 26 performance at the line for 76.9% while Taylor went 8
for 17 for 47.1%. With the win, HU improves to 15-8 on the
season and 4-5 in the MCC.
Box Score
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