The Cougars’ lead grew to as much as 28-8 on a layup by junior guard Brandon Short at the 10:36 mark. However, Shawnee State began to whittle away at the lead as the Bears used a 28-14 run to close the gap to 42-36 with 50.3 seconds left before the break. Keelyn Franklin led the comeback with eight points.

Short hit a pair of free throws to close out the half as MVNU took a 44-36 advantage to the locker room at the break.

Taylor led the Cougars with 22 points in the first half on 5-for-6 shooting from three-point range, while Short came off the bench to score six points. MVNU shot 57.7 percent from the field (15-for-26), 75 percent from three-point range (6-for-8), and made all eight of its free throw attempts.

Mark Bryant paced Shawnee State with 10 points and five rebounds in the first half, while Franklin added nine points. The Bears shot 41.7 percent from the field (15-for-36), 16.7 percent from three-point range (1-for-6), and 50 percent at the free throw line (5-for-10). They also out-rebounded the Cougars 19-15.

The game went back and forth over the first eight minutes of the second half with MVNU clinging to a 56-49 lead with 11:40 to play. Then, the Cougars scored nine straight points to take a 65-49 lead with 9:29 to go as sophomore post Jordan Heatherly scored five points and junior guard Brady Swanson added four points.

From that point on, MVNU led by at least 13 points the rest of the way as the Cougars prevailed 86-71 to snap a four-game losing streak.

Taylor (left) finished with a career-high 24 points to lead MVNU, while senior center Bryce Sanborn added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Heatherly and senior guard Austin Kaiser each scored nine points apiece. The Cougars shot 54.7 percent from the field (29-for-53), 63.6 percent from three-point range (7-for-11), and 91.3 percent from the free throw line (21-for-23). MVNU also finished with a 36-29 rebounding advantage.

"We got off to a great start tonight at the offensive end of the floor with Robbie’s shooting display, but I thought it was our defense that really set the tone in the first five minutes of the game,” said MVNU coach Matt Moore. "Once a player hits his first two or three shots, you have got to continue to get him touches and tonight Robbie just kept knocking them down. I have never in my life seen someone, maybe other than LeBron (James), score that many points in that short amount of time.”

"I was extremely pround of our ability tonight to finish plays both in the basket area and at the free throw line,” Moore continued. "We have spent a lot of our practice time over the past month focusing on rhythm shooting and not only making shots, but swishing shots. I think that in a majority of our past five games we have shot the ball very well.”

"Our bench did a great job of extending our lead midway through the second half which really gave us the separation we needed to pull away,” said Moore. "I have just been extremely proud of our guys’ character in these past few weeks and their ability to handle both success and adversity with class and respect.”

Franklin and Bryant both scored 17 points apiece for Shawnee State with Bryant grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. Tyler Morgan also tossed in 15 points. The Bears shot 43.3 percent from the field (26-for-60), 11.1 percent from three-point range (1-for-9), and 64.3 percent from the free throw line (18-for-28).

The Cougars will look to close out their season on a winning streak as MVNU will host Malone University on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.