Troy men’s basketball fell short in both of its first two games in the four-game road trip last week. The Trojans’ four game win streak was shot down by James Madison and Miami (Ohio) .
James Madison spoiled Troy’s hot streak last Wednesday. A back-and-forth battle in the first half ended with the Dukes ahead 32-28 at the midway point.
In the second half, Troy was caught flat-footed. James Madison was able to extend the lead to seven points in the early moments of the half. Troy remained down by a small margin for the majority of the half, until a pair of Tayton Conerway and Jackson Fields buckets gave Troy life and a two-point lead at 61-59 with just 1:18 to play.
The Dukes made a free throw then after a Troy miss, a layup would put James Madison back on top. Troy had one more shot at it, but Marcus Rigsby Jr.’s three-pointer was off the mark.
James Madison toppled the Trojans 64-61.
“Obviously It’s disappointing,” said head coach Scott Cross. “We turned the ball over too much at the beginning of both halves, and that burned us.
“Our guys played hard, but I didn’t think we had the edge on defense that we needed to be great.”
This loss marks the fourth in conference play. All four have come from Troy giving up go-ahead buckets to its opponents with less than one minute remaining.
Tayton Conerway had a strong day despite the loss, and his 18 points continued his streak of scoring double-digits in every conference game. Conerway also had seven rebounds and four assists.
Bryce Lindsey and Elijah Hutchins-Everett were the playmakers for the Dukes, both with 14 points. Mark Freeman also had 13 points coming off the bench, but his six turnovers put a damper on his day.
Troy is now 0-3 all-time against JMU since the Dukes’ arrival to the Sun Belt Conference in 2022. Despite the loss, Troy still remains tied for second in the Sun Belt standings, now with five other teams.
A much-needed break from conference play took the Trojans to Oxford, Ohio, to take on Miami (OH) in the second round of the MAC-SBC Challenge. Unfortunately for Troy, it would result in a second straight loss.
A slow start for both teams, Miami got out to the early lead 8-3 after five minutes. Troy battled back to get out front soon after. It would remain a half of trading body-blows until Miami found its stride with an 8-0 run to send the Trojans to the locker room trailing 32-29.
It was another slow start to a half for Troy, but this time Miami was ready to take advantage of it. Miami outscored Troy 17-9 in the first seven minutes of the second half. Troy continued to try to chase, but the RedHawks flew high enough to escape the Trojans’ reach, and Miami would win it 69-62.
“They were just better, and that’s the bottom line,” said Cross. “They hit shots, they are so hard to guard, and they just spread you out and move around the pass.
“They’ve got good players who make great decisions.”
Evan Ipsaro for Miami came off the bench and led the RedHawks with 15 points. Eian Elmer also went for 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Troy once again had Conerway leading in points with 20, while Thomas Dowd had a strong showing of 13 points and eight rebounds.
The tough loss for Troy certainly came against a tough opponent. Miami now sits at 18-5 and second in the MAC, with high hopes of moving up a spot in the coming weeks.
Troy’s loss to Miami does not affect its Sun Belt championship hopes. Troy will take on Louisiana on Wednesday, but the Trojans are just one game behind Arkansas State, who they will face off with on Saturday on national television.
The rematch against Arkansas State should prove to be an interesting one. Troy led for nearly 39 minutes of the first battle, but Arkansas State stole the lead from Troy in the waning moments to walk out of Trojan Arena with a win.
Now, Troy will hope to nab the road win and potentially take the top spot in the conference Saturday on ESPN2.
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