Jahaan Bharucha
Contributor
The Troy men’s basketball team swept its regular season series against South Alabama with an 80-63 victory in front of a record crowd on Saturday.
The home team cruised past the in-state rival Jaguars in front of 3,266 fans in Trojan Arena, the largest crowd to witness a Sun Belt Conference game in its five-year history.
The Trojans had a record-breaking game, with five Trojans scoring in double-digits. It was a historic night for the junior Kevin Baker, who recorded his first double-double in his Troy career with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was a game that we really needed to get,” said Head Coach Phil Cunningham. “It was a really good win for us moving forward to try to get some momentum going.
“It was also a tremendous crowd. When you walked in and saw that crowd you thought, ‘We’ve got to win today.’”
Troy scored an even 40 points in each half, with junior Wesley Person leading the attack with 18 points in 36 minutes. Shooting at 40 percent or more in both halves, Troy won the game from long range by totaling 10 3-pointers as opposed to only four by South Alabama.
Person made four of those 3-pointers, while sophomore Jordon Varnado continued his streak of scoring in double- digits. He hasn’t scored less than 10 points in a game all season.
Troy also shot 81.8 percent from the free throw line, a significant improvement from two games prior when the Trojans shot 66.7 percent against Louisiana-Monroe.
The Jaguars were led by Trhae Mitchell and Josh Ajayi, who each scored 17 points in South Alabama’s third straight loss.
The men’s team faces Little Rock on Thursday and Arkansas State on Saturday in the Trojan Arena.
The much-needed win comes following two consecutive losses in Louisiana for the Trojans, and they will now look forward to facing Arkansas State on Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. in Trojan Arena.
