The Taylor men's basketball team notched its biggest win of the season Saturday by pulling off an upset over No. 4 Bethel in Odle Arena. The Trojans outscored the Pilots by 17 points in the second half to nail down a 79-73 win.
"We're really proud of our guys," Taylor head coach Paul Patterson said following the game. "They overcame a ton of difficult things today. Guys stepped up defensively in the second half and really played hard. "
Taylor (11-10, 2-5 MCC) had four players score in double figures, led by 19 from freshman guard Casey Coons. Tommy Peller had 17, Nate Kasper added 14, and senior Justin Goeglein chipped in with 13 points.
Coming into the game, Bethel ranked tops in the Mid-Central College Conference and sixth in the nation, scoring over 85 points per game. The Trojans put the clamps down on defense and held the Pilots to their second lowest shooting percentage (43.4%) of the season.
Two straight 3-pointers by Peller and Coons just three minutes into the game helped lift Taylor to a 14-7 lead at the 15:23 mark, but the Pilots quickly came to life with their own hot shooting from the outside.
Bethel (17-3, 5-2 MCC) nailed 10 of 15 three-point attempts in the first half, paced by Ryne Lightfoot's four from long range. Lightfoot led all scorers at halftime with 14 points. The Trojans hung around by shooting 52% from the field in the first half and headed to the intermission trailing 45-34.
"Physically they beat us to the boards in the first half," Patterson said. "They created a lot of their own offense with fouls and put backs. I thought we got burned when we were in the zone, but we came out in the second half and really handled them."
The Trojans methodically chipped away at Bethel's lead before grabbing a 62-61 lead on a basket by Goeglein with 7:32 remaining in the game. That key basket started a 9-1 Taylor run capped by another Goeglein field goal to give Taylor its largest lead of the game at 69-62 with 4:29 showing on the clock.
Over the next 1:18, Bethel made good on 5 of 6 attempts from the free throw line and slashed the Taylor lead back to two. After a pair of Coons free throws, Lightfoot scored three straight points to make the score 71-70 in favor of Taylor.
Peller fed Kasper for a score in the lane on the next possession to give the Trojans some breathing room at 73-70, but after trading several possessions, Wes Laidig hit a shot in the lane for Bethel and Taylor led by just a point at 74-73.
Taylor's worst fear came true on the inbounds play as Bethel's press forced a Trojan turnover. But the Pilots returned the favor and turned the ball right back over to Taylor's Coons, who drew a foul and went to the line to make both free throws.
In the final 15 seconds, Bethel attempted two contested 3-pointers, but came up short on both tries. Taylor made its free throws down the stretch to seal the six-point win.
"The kids have been working hard and they're coming together right now," Patterson said. "We're getting a rotation and I just hope we can build on this. This is a really good win for us, but we're right in the middle of our season and we've got a lot of hard things ahead of us."
Both teams committed plenty of turnovers, but Taylor's 17 miscues were three better than Bethel's 20 for the game. After 12 turnovers in the first half, Taylor settled down and committed just 5 in the second half.
Patterson recognized that the performance wasn't perfect, but talked of his team beginning to do the right things. "Obviously we had some bumps in the road, but these guys have done a good job of regrouping. They don't give up. They compete and just get after it on the next possession."
The Trojans held a 33-31 rebounding edge, led by 7 boards from Jake Burkholder.
"I thought Jake Burkholder had some great rebounds," Patterson said, "and (Nate) Kasper in the end owned the boards. Those guys just outworked them in the end."
The all-time series between Taylor and Bethel is now deadlocked at 22-22.
Bethel's Wes Laidig narrowly missed a double-double with 25 points and 9 rebounds. After scorching the nets in the first half from long range, Bethel was 0 for 9 in the second half.
