Trinity Christian Fends Off Late Heroics to Upend Men’s Basketball In Overtime, 99-91

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PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. — A game-tying three by Diante Taylor as time expired in regulation was enough to send the game into extra time before Trinity Christian pulled away for a 99-91 overtime win in Palos Heights, Ill. on Tuesday (Dec. 29) night. Taylor’s heroic heave was part of a team-high tying 20 points as the senior guard pulled to within 37 points of 1,500 for his career.

The Mustangs fell to 1-13 on the season and will continue their holiday road trip Wednesday (Dec. 30) at Purdue Calumet.

The Trolls of Trinity Christian improved to 5-7 after snapping an eight-game skid with the eight-point overtime decision.

After a back-and-forth beginning, the Mustangs pulled ahead by seven, 36-29, with 3:11 remaining in the first half when sophomore guard Tyler Sykes (Sterling Heights, Mich./Stevenson High School) connected his first three of the contest. Junior forward Elijah Ingram (Detroit, Mich./Consortium High School) converted a pair of free throws a minute later extend the lead before the Trolls closed the opening half strong to trail the Mustangs by three at the break, 42-39.

Nate Taylor (Battle Creek, Mich./Kellogg Community College) was impressive in his first half of action in a Mustang uniform, tallying 11 points – a game-high at the break – to help the Green and Gold take a one possession lead into the locker room.

The Mustangs battled in the second half despite facing foul trouble and were down three with 1.4 seconds remaining in the game when Sykes found [Diante] Taylor for the buzzer-beating, game-tying triple to send the game to overtime.

In the extra frame, the Trolls pulled away for an eight-point win behind a 12-0 advantage in points in the paint. The 12-0 edge in overtime was a product of a decisive 63-26 points in the paint advantage for the Trolls on Saturday night.

Diante Taylor (Battle Creek, Mich./Central High School) and Nate Taylor tallied 20 points each for the Mustangs with the latter Taylor pulling down 10 rebounds for a double-double in his first collegiate game since the 2013-14 campaign at Kellogg Community College. Ingram added 17 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double, while Sykes and Isaac Gillum (Milwaukee, Wis./Holy Redeemer High School) chimed in with 14 points each.

Sirafino Davis (Flint, Mich./Tiffin University) corralled a game-high 12 rebounds despite battling foul trouble all contest.

The Trolls were led by Jordan Perry and Myles Birgans with 31 and 25 points, respectively.

The Mustangs tip-off at 8 p.m. ET at Purdue Calumet Wednesday evening. Live video will be available on portal.stretchinternet.com/puc/.