Taylor Scores Thrilling Victory on 24th-Annual Ivanhoes #TUSilentNight
UPLAND, Ind. – After a one-year layoff, one of the best traditions in college athletics made its return to Odle Arena on Friday, as the Taylor men’s basketball team hosted the 24th-Annual Ivanhoes Silent Night Game and turned away Lincoln Christian by a 79-75 score to improve to 23-1 all-time on Silent Night.
The sold-out crowd had to wait just 123 seconds to end its silence, as Jackson Lewis assisted on three-straight Kaden Fuhrmann treys to start the night, before Lewis took it himself and rolled in a runner for an 11-4 TU lead at the 17:57 mark. Lewis became the first freshman to score TU’s 10th point on Silent Night since Evan Crowe in 2015.
The bucket sent the crowd into a frenzy that helped the Trojans build a 26-17 lead on 13 points from Fuhrmann, who connected on five of his first six looks from the field to open the contest.
Lincoln Christian (3-8) kept pace however, weathering the early onslaught and battling back to within single point at 31-30, before five-straight points from Aaron Hahn pushed the margin to 38-33 and helped TU take a 40-35 lead to the break.
The second stanza provided more drama, as Taylor’s lead ranged from one to eight points throughout with the two squads trading short bursts and thrilling the crowd over the final 20 minutes of action.
Fuhrmann continued to put on a shooting clinic, drilling three-straight triples once again to help open a 68-61 lead with 6:07 remaining in the game. Gavin Yoon took a brief turn with five-straight points to protect the Taylor lead, before another Fuhrmann hoop gave the Trojans a 75-68 edge with 3:27 showing on the clock.
Taylor withstood a stretch of five-straight points from LCU and held off the Lions down the stretch to lock down the four-point victory.
Fuhrmann ended the evening with 34 points on career-highs of 12-of-18 shooting and eight-of-14 from beyond the arc. The sophomore guard also added a personal-best eight rebounds and two steals in his 34 minutes of work.
Hahn followed with a career-high 20 points on a personal-best seven-of-10 shooting and added seven rebounds, three steals and one block.
Yoon joined Fuhrmann and Hahn in double figures with 10 points and Grant Niehaus added seven, while Lewis and Jakeb Kinsey combined for 12 assists. Lewis set a career-high with seven helpers and Kinsey dished out a career-high five.
Taylor shot 51.7 percent from the floor and sank a season-best 13 three-point shots in 30 attempts for a 43.3-percent rate from downtown.
TU (5-8) will return to action on Thursday, December 16 at 7:00 pm, when it hosts Northwestern Ohio (3-8), following the TU women’s team hosting Lourdes in a 5:00 pm start.
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