Mitchell Impresses in Senior Day Loss to No. 22 Bethel

UPLAND, Ind. – After Senior Day Festivities before the game honoring Gavin Yoon, Taylor battled No. 22 Bethel to a tight 81-73 loss in the final regular season contest of the season on Saturday afternoon. 

Yoon was the lone senior honored on Saturday, celebrating a terrific Taylor career for the guard from Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Yoon finished his career with over 600 points scored and 136 triples made, with an outstanding 35 percent mark from beyond the arc. 

Julian Mitchell continued his impressive play late in the season with a team-high 16 points in 30 minutes of action. The sharp-shooting freshman splashed home a quartet of triples and grabbed five rebounds, both season-highs for the Liberty Township, Ohio native. 

Jackson Ullom and Kaden Fuhrmann joined Mitchell in double figures with 15 and 14 respectively, as each hit a trio of shots from beyond the arc. Ullom also matched a career-best with seven assists as he ran the offense for 35 minutes. 

Both Anton Webb and Caleb Hodgson had good nights in the paint, Webb scoring nine and pulling down nine rebounds and Hodgson putting up eight points and four boards. Webb added three assists and two blocks before fouling out in a physical contest. 

Taylor (10-18, 5-13 CL) played well from the tip, racing out to a 10-4 lead, and did not trail until the closing minutes of the first half. A 9-3 run saw Taylor grab its largest lead of the game when Ullom hit a triple on a fast break from a terrific feed by Mitchell to make the score 31-24. 

Bethel went on a 12-0 run over the next three minutes to take the lead and maintain it to the halftime whistle, leading 38-33 going into the locker room. 

Webb and Fuhrmann made back-to-back buckets after the break to cut the deficit to one, and the game was close in the opening minutes of the second period. 

Another Bethel (19-9, 10-8 CL) run, this time 8-0, gave them a nine-point lead. 

The Trojans picked up the energy and clawed their way back into the contest, narrowing the gap to two with under nine minutes left to play until the Pilots shut the door by hitting 17 of 18 attempts from the charity stripe down the stretch while making only three shots from the field. 

Taylor begins postseason play against No. 1 Grace (27-1, 17-1 CL) in the Crossroads League Tournament on Wednesday, February 28, with a tip-off time yet to be determined.