UPLAND, Ind. – Taylor fell behind late in the first half and was unable to recover in an 82-68 defeat against RV Saint Francis in Crossroads League action on Saturday afternoon.
The squads traded baskets early, and both were shooting over 50 percent through the first 11 minutes of action. Kaden Fuhrmann scored his seventh point of the night to give Taylor its largest lead at 23-17, as seven players scored in the opening 11 minutes for Taylor.
The Cougars responded with a 6-0 run to knot it up before a triple by Izaiah Day gave TU the lead, and after a couple of buckets by Saint Francis, Kobe Funderburk hit a shot from downtown to give Taylor its final lead of the contest at 29-28.
The visitors capped the opening half with a 14-3 run, including three triples to take a commanding ten-point advantage into the locker room.
The momentum followed the Cougars back from the locker room as they stretched the lead out to 19 at 56-37 as they made their first six shots following the break.
Taylor started to figure things out offensively and eventually chipped away to get the deficit back down to ten, with the score 70-60. The next two-and-a-half minutes featured a single point before Saint Francis stretched the lead back to 16.
The purple and gray hit a couple of free throws down the stretch to give Fuhrmann a team-high 16 points, and fellow senior Anton Webb joined him in double digits with 13. The pair of senior statesmen had five and four assists, as Taylor assisted on 18 of 23 field goals for an assist percentage of 78.3.
The Trojans outscored the Cougars bench 22 to 5 but were outpaced down low to the tune of 38 points or Saint Francis (14-6, 7-3 CL) compared to just 18 for TU.
Taylor (11-9, 4-6 CL) travels to play Mount Vernon Nazarene (11-9, 3-7 CL) in their next game on Wednesday, January 29, with tip-off set for 7:00 pm.
