MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Trojans (3-5, 1-0) of Taylor University snuck out of Platt Arena with a 77-74 OT win against the Huntington men’s basketball team Saturday afternoon on opening day of Crossroads League play.

“This was a tough loss for us tonight,” said Coach Kory Alford. “We failed to protect our home court and I wasn’t happy with how we responded to adversity.

“Taylor played extremely hard and took advantage of their opportunities in the second half. We made far too many mental errors down the stretch, and we failed to get stops when we needed to. We will learn from our mistakes and be better moving forward.”

The loss is HU’s first on their home turf this year as they drop to 5-2 overall, 0-1 in CL action.

Kaden Fuhrmann was a one-man wrecking ball for the Trojans. The 6-4 sophomore went off for a career-high 39 points with his greatest moments coming in the final minute of regulation and again at the end of the extra period.

After two freebies by Peyton West with :46 ticks remaining gave HU a 66-61 advantage, things quickly unraveled for the hosts compliments of Fuhrmann. The gritty guard scored five straight points from the charity stripe within a ten-second span to force the game’s seventh stalemate of the afternoon.

Following Fuhrmann’s heroics, there was still enough time for the two teams to trade buckets to make for a 68-68 deadlock that sent the game to overtime where he willed his team to victory by scoring TU’s final six points to clinch the W.

Aside from a few possessions in the opening 20 minutes, Huntington enjoyed a lead for most of the frame which included the game’s largest disparity up to that point, 31-25, at the midway point. It looked like Alford and crew were scripting a happy ending as they reeled off eight straight points to start the second half for a 39-25 lead by the 18:37 mark.

While the Trojans’ response wasn’t quite as furious, it was effective. The guests spent the next five minutes piecing together a 22-7 run, with all but six of those points coming from Fuhrmann, to reclaim a 47-46 lead. It was a battle after that as no more than two possessions separated the two squads with Taylor’s execution eventually proving more efficient.

Zach Goodline poured in a career-high 28 points to go along with 11 rebounds to pace the Foresters with a double double. He also collected four steals and three assists. Hank Pulver added 11 points, six boards and five assists. Caleb Middlesworth tossed in ten points while West and Ben Humrichous posted eight points apiece.

In addition to Fuhrmann’s 39 points, Jason Hubbard finished with 12 points and a game-best 13 rebounds for Taylor.

The Foresters hit the road on Tuesday to tip-off against Bethel at 7:30 p.m.