Hubbard Stays Hot in Road Victory

PHOENIX – Taylor (7-6, 2-3 CL) began its Arizona trip with an emphatic, 79-66, victory over SAGU American Indian College (3-7) on Tuesday night.

Jason Hubbard continued his climb among TU's all-time scorers as he collected 31 points to move into third place with 2,087 points, trailing only Casey Coons, who scored 2,138 points in his playing career at TU, and Jim Bushur, who amassed 2,213 points in an illustrious Taylor career during the 1980s.

Hubbard's terrific year continued as he grabbed nine rebounds and shot 12-17 from the field, including splashing in a three on his only attempt. The Miamisburg, Ohio native has notched 24 or more points in four straight games while shooting at or above 50 percent from the field in each contest. Hubbard now sits in fourth place in the NAIA in points per game at 24.4 while also boasting an impressive 9.2 rebounds per contest.

Jeff Clayton posted a double-digit point total with 11 for the first time this season while collecting six boards and two assists. The final trojan in double figures was Nate Paarlberg, who had his most impressive game, connecting on each of his four shot attempts, with two of those coming from behind the arc. That, along with his one free throw make totaled 11 points for the talented freshman.

Each team struggled to score at the start, with neither registering a point in the first two minutes. A back-and-forth contest eventually gave way to Taylor building a 15-point lead 13 minutes into the game.

The Warriors punched back with an 11-0 run to cut the lead to four. TU pushed the lead back to eight at the halftime whistle.

Taylor built a 19-point advantage after a Kaden Fuhrmann layup just over six minutes after halftime. TU kept a double-digit lead the rest of the way to get back over .500 on the season.

The Trojans shot an impressive 56.7 percent from the field and held to Warriors to 39.6 percent, even though SAGU shot a remarkable 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Taylor is back in action Wednesday, December 21, against Embry-Riddle (4-6) in Prescott, Arizona, with another late tip-off scheduled for 9:00 pm.