Three-Point Barrage Carries RV Taylor to Christmas at the Wooden Title

XENIA, Ohio – RV Taylor splashed home 15 triples in a dominant 97-62 win in the Christmas at the Wooden Red Bracket Title game against St. Thomas (7-7, 0-3 SUN) on Wednesday afternoon in Xenia, Ohio.

Taylor's offensive excellence continued Wednesday afternoon, pouring in 89 or more points for the fourth consecutive game. The Trojans shot 58.6 from the field and 65.2 from beyond the arc, the best percent since the 2012-13 season.

Izaiah Day continued to torch the nets from beyond the arc splashing home four threes in the first half and scoring 14 of his game-high 23 in the opening half. Day was named the Tournament MVP for his outstanding effort across two games, shooting 18-24 from the field and 13-16 from three-point land.

Zahree Harrison was aggressive off the bench scoring a season-best 18 points. The transfer point guard was a regular at the charity stripe, converting 7-11 and hitting five of six from the field including making his only attempt from beyond the arc.

Pete Combs made his presence known on the inside with 14 points on just nine shots while adding four assists and three rebounds. Combs was named to the All-Tournament Team after a pair of games in double-digits at the Christmas at the Wooden.

The game was back-and-forth at the beginning, with seven lead changes in the first five minutes. St. Thomas took their final lead of the game at 16-15 nine minutes into the action before Taylor responded with a three from Carson Gould, who scored six and provided six assists.

TU could not shake the Bobcats from the next five minutes and held a narrow 29-25 lead with six minutes remaining in the first half.

An emphatic 14-1 run put Taylor ahead comfortably for good as the defense held STU without a field goal for the final six minutes of the opening half and raced out to a 48-29 halftime lead.

The Purple and Gray continued to push the lead out in the second and kept the foot on the gas as Levin Smith capped a ten-point game with a dunk in the final minute giving TU the final score and its largest lead of the game at 97-62.

Turnovers were a large advantage for Taylor, giving the ball away just six times and forcing 18 by the Bobcats which translated to a 29-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

Taylor (10-3, 3-1 CL) takes a break for Christmas before hosting Olivet Nazarene (8-2, 5-0 CCAC) on Monday, December 29th, inside Odle Arena with tip set for 3:00 pm.