Theo Seng and Victor Valdes communicate during Troy’s game against Southern Miss.
Troy men’s basketball earned another pair of home wins last week. The wins over Georgia Southern and ULM now make four in a row for the Trojans.
The matchup with the Eagles proved to be a tough one. Troy’s slow start to the game gave Georgia Southern a 10-point advantage late in the half. Troy managed to claw their way back in the final minutes to go into halftime up 41-40.
The second half remained a back-and-forth contest. With seven lead changes, it came down to the final minutes, where Troy needed to close it out. Learning from past games where they blew late leads, the Trojans put together a 9-0 run to give them enough of a gap to hold onto the 81-74 win.
“I am very thankful to the good Lord that we were able to pull this one out,” head coach Scott Cross said. “We’ve had games where we definitely don’t finish strong – Arkansas State, Texas State and Southern Miss.
“It was good to see our guys get stops down the stretch.”
Tayton Conerway led the Trojans with 15 points, three rebounds and five assists. Theo Seng also had a notable showing with 11 points off the bench -- he went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Troy turned its attention to a surprisingly hot ULM team on Saturday. The Warhawks were a mere 6-17 going into the game, but coming off back-to-back wins over South Alabama, who currently sits third in the Sun Belt Conference. There were questions about whether ULM had found its stride.
The Trojans quickly shut down any speculation. A shocking 50-15 lead at half left Troy fans comfortably seated, while fans got to see some faces not typically making appearances in the second half.
The second half saw fan-favorite Brayden Whitaker come off the bench. Whitaker had a season-high six points. There was some action though, as a pair of technical fouls sent Marcus Rigsby Jr. to the locker room early.
Despite the scuffle, Troy’s lead remained intact. The Trojans closed out the dominating victory 87-50.
“It was the best all-around game we’ve played all year,” Cross said. “Everything that we talk about and emphasize, our guys did today.”
Although Rigsby Jr. was ejected from the game, he led the team in points with a career high of 17. He also had four rebounds and three assists.
Saturday was an all-around good day for the Rigsby brothers, as Myles Rigsby also showed out with 15 points, three rebounds and four assists.
Troy managed to come away clean in the four-game, eight day homestand. The team will now hit the road for four straight games.
Troy takes on James Madison Wednesday night, followed by round two of the Sun Belt/MAC Challenge against Miami University on Saturday.
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