Michael Shipma
Sports Editor
The Troy men’s basketball team’s conference title run came to a screeching halt Friday night in New Orleans after losing 73-51 to Georgia State in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
The Trojans fell behind early, and never could get much going against a stingy Panther defense.
Georgia State lived up to its role as the tournament’s No. 2 seed, dominating both ends of the floor. Jeff Thomas and D’Marcus Simonds put up 19 and 17 points, respectively, and the Panthers held Troy to just 31 percent shooting from the floor, including 5-29 from 3-point range.
The Trojans made just 14 of its shots from the floor the entire game, which was equivalent to the number of shots the Panthers made in the first half.
Troy’s stars were limited in their productivity, as senior guard Wesley Person took just six shots the whole game on his way to 14 points. Junior forward Jordon Varnado was also limited, shooting 5-11 from the field scoring 15.
“We’ve had at least one half every time we play them when we get loose and score, but we didn’t do that today,” said Head Coach Phil Cunningham. “I thought from the opening tip we looked like a team that really felt the pressure of not wanting to lose. We got behind early and started pressing then made some uncharacteristic errors. Georgia State was good early in the game and that set the tone.”
