Comeback Falls Short Against IU Kokomo in Physical Contest

UPLAND, Ind. – The Trojans made a furious second-half comeback but ran out of gas in a 93-80 defeat against IU Kokomo on Friday night inside Odle Arena.

Taylor fell behind early in the first half and struggled to get back into the game until Kaden Fuhrmann nailed a pair of triples on either end of a three-pointer by Levin Smith to get within four.

The teams traded buckets the rest of the half and TU trailed 40-32 after a foul gave the Cougars two free throws right before the halftime whistle blew.

The Cougars extended their lead to 14 at 53-39 six minutes after the restart and had complete control of the contest.

Fuhrmann jumpstarted another comeback with a layup followed by a pair of dunks from Anton Webb and Pete Combs to get the Trojans within six.

IU Kokomo (2-1) quickly stretched the lead back to 10 with buckets in back-to-back possessions.

Combs continued his terrific second half with four more points in an 11-2 run to get TU within one at 63-62. The sophomore big man tallied nine of his 13 points in the second stanza while adding five rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

In the next two minutes, the teams traded buckets, and Chaz Harvey hit a shot from beyond the arc to cut the lead to three again before the Cougars went on a 9-0 run to shut the door on the Trojans and held a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Fuhrmann and Harvey led the team with 19 points apiece, but as team TU struggled from the charity stripe, shooting 54.5 percent and got outrebounded by 13 in its first loss of the young season.

Taylor (4-1) goes on the road to play Bowling Green (0-2) in an exhibition matchup with the NCAA Division I University, with tip set for 7:00 pm.