Troy Squeezes Past UWA in OT

Monday, November 9

TROY

7:00 PM

Troy University

West Alabama (Exhibition)

11/10/2009 4:00:00 AM | Basketball (M)

TROY – Troy head coach Don Maestri was ready for his team to get some in-game experience. Monday night in Trojan arena, his team got just that.

The Trojans battled back from a five point deficit with 2:38 left in the second half to force overtime and ultimately defeat West Alabama in the extra period, 99-93.

“UWA played a very good game,” Maestri said. “Coach McCarter did a good job. They did a good job of shortening the game when we were playing in zone. The positive of tonight was that it was a good game for our team to play in.

“It was a close game that we had to come back in and win in overtime. It was good for our team to go through that.”

Troy native Jason Swanson scored five straight for UWA giving his squad an 85-80 lead with 2:35 left on the clock in regulation before Antywan Jones finally got two points for Troy. It was the first points for Troy in almost three minutes of play.

Following a free throw by Swanson, Troy's Vernon Taylor drew a foul and sank a pair at the line cutting UWA's lead to two points, 86-84, with just more than a minute to go.

Bernard Toombs then entered the game for the Trojans for the first time since leaving at the 11:19 mark of the first half. Toombs immediately bodied up on Swanson forcing a miss that he then corralled.

Brandon Hazzard sank a two-point jumper for the Trojans to tie the game with 22 second remaining. The basket was Hazzard's first since two free throws at the 10:50 mark.

The Atlanta, Ga.-native finished the game tied with fellow senior Michael Vogler for the team lead with 20 points. Vogler added six assists, but fouled out with 4:09 remaining in regulation.

Troy played furious defense forcing the Tigers into a miss courtesy of a blocked shot by Jones, but the block went out of bounds off Jones leaving possession with the Tigers.

Next, West Alabama's Richard Sirju was called for an offensive foul on the inbounds play giving Troy the ball, but a 3-pointer by Hazzard went was no good sending the game to overtime.

Hazzard opened the extra period with a jumper from the top of the key, but Sirju answered with a 3-pointer for and 89-88 Tigers lead.

Toombs got a bucket down low to put Troy back on top and another long two from Hazzard gave the Trojans a three point advantage. Hazzard found Taylor on a run-out for two more pushing Troy's advantage to 94-89 with 1:21 left.

Toombs then came up with a block, but was called for goaltending, giving UWA two points, but they still trailed 94-91. After a Hazzard miss, Taylor grabbed a huge offensive rebound forcing the Tigers to foul.

Troy then sandwiched two free throws by Toombs and a split pair by Jones around a UWA 3-point miss, before Hazzard iced the game with two at the line with seven seconds left.

“Toombs – my goodness gracious,” Maestri said. “Toombs in the last two to three minutes of the game and overtime was tremendous. He did a great job defensively on Swanson and did a great job of rebounding defensively. Then he made two big free throws.”

The junior from Columbus, Ga., who is coming off a redshirt season in 2008-09, played just eight minutes but his four points, three rebounds and blocked shot played a critical role in the Trojan victory.

“I am happy for him because he's worked extremely hard,” Maestri said. “He's not a guy that gets a lot of minutes, but he never has a bad attitude. He definitely told the coaches tonight that he is valuable.”

UWA jumped out to a hot 7-0 run to start the game and even stretched the lead to 22-13 before the Trojans began to climb back into the game. The UWA run was keyed by three triples from Alquan Mendenhall.

The Trojans took their first lead at 40-39 with 5:16 to go in the opening half, but with less than two minutes to go the Tigers tied it on a 3-pointer by Mendenhall.

Hazzard and Vogler then knocked down back-to-back treys for the Trojans to push the lead to 54-48. UWA's Brian Murphy connected on two in the paint before Vogler sank two free throws to end the half with Troy on top 56-50.

Vogler scored baskets on three consecutive possessions giving Troy a 66-61 lead with 14:22 remaining in the second half, but the Tigers wouldn't go away.

Trayce Macon connected on his second 3-pointer of the night stretching Troy's lead to its highest to that point at six points at 69-63 with 13:20 left, but UWA answered right back with another Mendenhall trey.

The junior from St. Petersburg, Fla. finished the contest with 14 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes of play.

The Trojans went on a 10-3 run to stretch their lead out to 76-66, capped by a pair of free throws by Hazzard, but a put-back for West Alabama by Brandon Hampton and yet another Mendenhall trey cut Troy's lead back down to five points.

With Troy leading 78-74, Sirju hit a 3-pointer slicing the Tigers' deficit down to just one point with less than seven minutes to go. Swanson scored two points in the paint and Sirju split a pair at the line to give UWA an 80-78 lead with 5:22 left on the clock. The free throw ended a 14-2 run for the Tigers.

Troy outrebounded UWA 51-34, but West Alabama countered by shooting a scorching 53.8 percent (14-for-26) from beyond the arc. Comparatively, Troy shot a solid 36 percent (9-of-25) from deep.

The Trojans strong rebounding night was spurred by the efforts of newcomers Taylor (eight points and eight rebounds), Levan Patsatsia (double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds) and Yamene Coleman (eight rebounds and two blocks.

Jones added 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for the Trojans. Troy's reserves outscored UWA's bench 38-7.

Maestri was especially pleased with the turnout for the exhibition game on a rainy Monday.

“This was by far the largest crowd we have ever had for an exhibition game,” he said. “I want to say thanks to the students and local people who came out. They made a major difference in the last five minutes and overtime.

“You would have thought it was Western Kentucky we were playing as loud as it got tonight. We appreciate the crowd and I want to thank them.”

Those same fans will get their next chance to see their Trojans in Trojan Arena on Saturday. Troy opens its regular season slate at 1 pm against Piedmont College. Season tickets are still available for more information call the Troy Ticket Office at 1-866-878-WINS.