Owens Clutch in Troy Road Win

Saturday, January 7

Bowling Green, Ky.

4:00 p.m.

Troy University

Western Kentucky University

Photo by: James Robinson

1/7/2012 6:54:00 PM | Basketball (M)

By: Matt Mays

Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Troy men's basketball team got great play from their two forwards as Tim Owens hit the game-winner in a 67-65 win at WKU for the Trojans on Saturday evening.

The win marks the first for Troy in E.A. Diddle Arena in seven tries as WKU saw a season-high crowd of 5,127 inside their home arena for interim head coach Ray Harper's debut.

“We got a great performance by our inside guys,” head coach Don Maestri said. “They did an excellent job on defense in front of a big crowd.”

“Our kids showed some toughness, didn't panic and were really good defensively.”

Justin Wright led the Trojans (6-9, 1-3) with 17 points but the story was Owens who played great defense and had 10 points, but none bigger than the last two.

With the score tied at 65-65, the Trojans came away with the last possession and called a play designed for Emil Jones. Jones got the one-on-one matchup he wanted, but unselfishly dropped the ball off to Owens, who dropped in a bucket from just in front of the rim with four seconds remaining.

“This is the win we needed with three home games coming up,” Owens said. “This is our biggest road win in my two years with Troy and we will use it to build momentum.”

WKU (5-12, 1-3) got a tough shot on the other end, but couldn't get it to fall as Troy came away with its first road win in six weeks.

Troy erased a six-point halftime deficit and built a 14-point second half lead before having to hold on in a wild finish. Ray Chambers (14) and Alan Jones (10) joined Wright and Owens in double-figures. Chambers and Owens combined to go 10-of-12 from the floor with nine rebounds between them.

Will Weathers recorded eight assists and three steals for the Trojans.

Derrick Gordon led WKU with 16 but had five turnovers and was 5-of-9 from the free throw line. The Trojans held a second straight opponent to 65 points or fewer for the first time since two straight wins last February over Denver and Middle Tennessee.

The Trojans return to the floor in a week when they welcome South Alabama to Sartain Hall for the first of three straight at home. The Trojans and Jags tip-off at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14, in the Sun Belt Network Game of the Week.

For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter at @TroyAthletics or become fans on Facebook.

TROY 67, WKU 65

The Trojans played their best defense of the year to open the second half as they erased a six-point deficit and setup a great finish in Bowling Green.

After WKU hit the first bucket of the second half, the Trojans went on a 9-0 run over four minutes to retake the lead at 39-38. Tim Owens got two buckets on the run with a Justin Wright triple mixed in as the Trojans took the lead with 16:20 to go.

With the score at 42-40 with 14:18 to go, Weathers would get two buckets in 20 seconds to give the Trojans a 46-40 lead, forcing a WKU timeout. The Troy defense continued to suffocate the Toppers as the Trojans built their lead to 55-42 at the 11:41 mark while WKU shot just 20 percent in the half.

The Trojans extended their lead to as many as 14 at 58-44 with 10:23 to go before WKU started to hit their shots. The Hilltoppers used a 9-0 run to cut the lead to six at 58-52 with 7:09 to go as the Trojans went scoreless for over three minutes.

With the lead cut down to three at 58-55 with 6:02 to go, Troy got its first bucket in over four minutes as Ray Chambers got the basket to put Troy up 60-55.

The Toppers would pull even at 62-62 before Chambers scored an old-fashion three-point play to give Troy a 65-62 lead with 4:12 to go.

Troy would go cold again as WKU pulled even at 65-65 with 2:30 to go. At that point, both sides went cold as neither scored until four seconds remained when Owens hit the game winner.

Cold shooting plagued the Trojans early in front of the energized WKU crowd. At the 11:25 mark, the Trojans found themselves trailing, 14-9 with just 3-of-14 shooting. WKU on the other hand was at 6-of-12.

Troy fell into an eight-point hole at 17-9 before an 11-2 run gave them a 20-19 lead at the 8:26 mark in the first. Alan Jones hit two triples while a three-pointer by Weathers capped the run and forced at WKU timeout.

Troy would extend the lead to 28-23 when Alan Jones stole a WKU inbound pass in the backcourt and put up a quick jumper. The five-point Trojan lead would prove the largest of the half as WKU tied things up at 30-30 with a Derrick Gordon jumper to get the WKU crowd back into it.

The Toppers fed off of the crowd for the remainder of the first half as they used an 8-0 run to take a 36-30 halftime lead. The Trojans did not score in the final 4:22 of the half.

For the fifth time on the season, the Trojans allowed a team to shoot 50 percent or better in the first half as WKU hit 53.3 percent (16-of-30) in the opening frame. In comparison, Troy shot just 36.7 percent (11-of-30).