Trojans Withstand Late ULM Charge

Thursday, December 31

Monroe, La.

2:00 PM

Troy University

ULM

12/31/2009 7:00:00 PM | Basketball (M)

MONROE, La. – Despite a late charge by ULM, the Troy men's basketball team held on for an 83-82 win on Thursday afternoon in Sun Belt action.

Down by just three points, ULM missed a 3-pointer and Troy cleared the rebound. The Warhawks were forced to foul Brandon Hazzard. The subsequent foul shot by Hazzard was missed and Troy fouled Jarvis Hill sending him to the line for two with 27 seconds remaining.

Hill sank two to cut Troy's lead to just a point. On the ensuing play, Vogler missed the front end of a one-plus-one opportunity giving ULM the ball with a chance to tie or win.

Tony Hooper missed a 3-pointer and Taylor was fouled after grabbing the rebound. Taylor missed the foul shot, but a desperation attempt by Colby Carr missed allowing Troy to escape.

Mike Vogler recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists for the Trojans, his first of the season and sixth of the year for Troy. Jones added 13 points and Richard Delk did not attempt a shot, but added six assists and seven rebounds.

“We are happy to get out of here with the win,” head coach Don Maestri said. “You come on the road, so to leave 2-0 is good. It's nice to be able to be able to face Denver 2-0. I feel like we out-played them. We got in foul trouble and they kept calling the fouls.

“Brandon [Hazzard] made some key baskets for us. I'm relieved because we could have lost the game, but I felt like we deserved to win.”

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Hazzard forced an early timeout by ULM head coach Orlando Early. The second completed a 14-5 run that gave Troy the lead.

Hazzard quickly knocked down two more treys on Troy's next two possessions. Those two gave him 161 for his career and put him in sixth place on Troy's Division I list, passing current Troy assistant coach Ben Fletcher.

The senior from Atlanta finished the game with season-high 30 points on 6-for-12 shooting from deep.

Troy (7-6, 2-0 SBC) continued its strong play and Vernon Taylor capped another Trojan surge with a three-point play at the eight minute mark. Taylor's three the hard way gave the Trojans a 31-16 advantage.

Another trey by Hazzard was followed by a triple from the Warhawks' Jarvis Hill to cut the Trojans' lead to 37-26 with exactly five minutes remaining in the opening half.

Taylor got two more to go for the Trojans as he continued his strong play off the bench in the first half. The junior from Cross, South Carolina scored 12 points in the first half and finished the game with a career-best 16.

Both teams traded baskets over the final two minutes of the half, but Troy could not convert a final possession entering the half on top 48-35.

Troy turned the ball over five times in the first 3:45 of the second half after turning it over just five times in the entire opening stanza. Those gaffes resulted in a 10-6 run by the Warhawks that pared Troy's lead down to nine points.

Yamene Coleman scored consecutive baskets over a four second span to extend the Trojan lead back to 13 points. The big man finished the game with 10 points, his fourth straight in double-figures.

ULM (5-9, 0-3 SBC) refused to go away, rebutting any Troy run with a run of its own. With 11:14 left in the contest, the Warhawks trailed by just 10 points, 68-58.

Two points by Tony Hooper and two free throws by Tommie Sykes cut Troy's lead down to only six points. The lowest it had been since the 15:59 mark of the first half.

Sykes kept the hot shooting from the foul line going as back-to-back pairs for the junior cut Troy's lead all the way down to five points. Lawrence Gilbert sank a pair at the line to make it just a three-point game with 2:17 to go, but Hazzard hit a long two on Troy's next possession to halt the Warhawks' run. Sykes hit 17-of-20 attempts on the afternoon from the charity stripe.

Troy is in action next on Saturday evening when it faces Denver as part of a double-header with the women's basketball team. Tip-off for the men's game is set for 7:30 pm.