UPLAND, IN – After 40 minutes of exciting Crossroads League basketball between the host Taylor Trojans and the Spring Arbor University Cougars, it would take an extra five minutes of overtime to decide the winner on Saturday afternoon in Upland, IN. After a 73-73 tie, Taylor outscored SAU 15-14 in the extra period including a bucket with 4.1 seconds left to steal the win from the Cougars 88-87.
Both teams shot well with each side shooting over 50% from the field, Spring Arbor on the nose at 50% and Taylor at 54%.
In the overtime period, Taylor struck first with a field goal and SAU's Greg Hamilton tied the game and then took the lead with a pair of field goals. The Cougars led the game 77-75 with 3:25 left in the OT period.
Two free throws by Xavier Prather extended Spring Arbor's lead to 79-75 with 3:02 left, but a 2-pointer and 3-pointer by Taylor reclaimed the lead for the host Trojans with 2:35 on the clock.
Hamilton made one of two free throws to tie the game at 80-80 with 2:21 to go and Taylor scored a bucket and Rob Hogans answered with an old-fashioned 3-pointer with a bucket and a free-throw for an 82-82 tie with 1:35 remaining.
Taylor reclaimed the lead 84-83 with a pair of free throws, but Greg Hamilton's OT heroics continued as he made his two attempts from the free throw line to take back the lead 85-84 with 0:55 on the clock. Taylor, not to be undone at the charity stripe, made two free throws on their turn with the ball and now led Spring Arbor 86-85 with only 0:39 to go only to lose the lead to the Cougars when Rob Hogans made his two attempts at the line. Spring Arbor now led 87-86 with 0:32 to go and set up the Taylor bucket by Kyle Stidom with 4.1 on the clock.
Rob Hogans followed up his two game hot streak of games of 42 points and 32 points with a game high 39 points against Taylor. Hogans hit 12 of 23 shots from the field, including 4-9 from 3-point range and 11-13 from the free throw line.
Hogans 132 points in his last three games now makes him the 7th highest scoring player in Spring Arbor history with 1935 points and a career average of 15.36 points per game.
Spring Arbor drops to 10-16 and 5-9 and will travel to Fort Wayne, IN on Tuesday night, February 11 to take on the University of St. Francis at 7:00 p.m.
