Troy Uses 2nd Half Run to Top MTSU

Thursday, February 12

Troy, Ala.

7 p.m.

Troy University

Middle Tennessee

2/12/2009 6:00:00 AM | Basketball (M)

Middle Tennessee scored the first two points of the second half, then Troy ripped off a 22-2 run over the next nine minutes to build a 15 point lead and they never looked back as the Trojans picked up a 70-64 victory in Sun Belt action.

Troy (16-10, 11-3 SBC) with the victory increases its winning streak to nine games, the most since the Trojans won 13 straight during the 2003-04 season. That season Troy won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title and earned a berth in the National Invitational Tournament.

“From the point where the young lady held out and drew applause during the national anthem I knew it was going to be a show tonight. Basketball wise we off to a pretty good start. Then they switched defenses on us and got us out of our rhythm and I think it stunned us,” head coach Don Maestri said.

“At halftime we realized we had to change things up. I thought we did a great job defensively after the half. We played like a team defensively, helping out, doing the things you need to do. We kept them from scoring for a long stretch and it put the pressure on Middle Tennessee. At the end they had to switch back to man defense. That let us get back in rhythm. We are happy to win this game. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Middle Tennessee. We are grateful to come out on top in this game.”

Back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week Brandon Hazzard keyed Troy's offensive attack once more with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the foul line. Richard Delk (12 points) and Kenny Ware (13 points) also scored in double-figures for the Trojans.

After two for MTSU (15-10, 8-5 SBC) to start the second half, Jervis got two down low and Delk hit a three to cut the Blue Raider's lead to just two points, 32-30. After two sets of free throws for the Trojans, Ware's 3-pointer put the Trojans back on-top 36-34 with 14 minutes left.

Hazzard made it a seven point Troy advantage with another 3-pointer in transition and Delk got two on the fast break for a 43-34 Troy lead with 12:29 to go. A pair of free throws by Mario Telfair capped a 22-2 Troy run over 10 minutes of play leading up to the eight minute mark. It left them with a 47-34 lead.

Michael Vogler hit a three with the shot clock winding down and Hazzard followed it up with a trey of his own from the corner for a 55-38 Trojans lead with just less than six minutes remaining.

Hazzard split a pair of free throws and on the following possession Desmond Yates converted a three-point play to leave Troy with a 15-point lead, 56-41 with just more than five minutes to go.

After another Ware deep ball, MTSU went on a 8-0 run to slice Troy's lead down to 11 points, 61-50. Telfair split a pair from the charity stripe, but Montarrio Haddock drained a 3-pointer to drop the Blue Raider's deficit down to just nine, 62-53, with less than two minutes to go.

Ware sank a pair from the line, but Haddock completed a three-point play paring the Troy advantage to just eight points. Hazzard took his turn at the line next for two more and after Vogler split a pair with 57 seconds to go, it was a 10 point game, 67-57.

Next, Yates got three points the hard way leaving Troy up by just seven points. On the subsequent inbounds play, Troy threw the ball away, but Vogler dove to the ground to force a jump ball and give his team the ball back on the possession arrow with 34 seconds left.

Vogler split a pair from the line, then Delk missed two free throws before Yates got a lay-up putting the Blue Raiders down six 68-62 with 15 seconds remaining. Hazzard hit another pair from the line and Yates added a late bucket but it was not enough.

Troy hit 25-of-34 free throws (73.5 percent) for the game. 25 is the most free throws the Trojans have hit in a game this season.

Tom Jervis knocked down a jumper from the elbow to cap an 8-1 game opening run for the Trojans. Delk added an exclamation point with a pull-up 3-pointer to make it 11-1 with 14:43 left in the opening half. Jervis had four points and three blocks on the game for Troy.

Middle Tennessee raced back into the game with an 11-2 run to make it 13-12. Calvin O'Neil's 3-pointer made it 24-20 MTSU, but Hazzard came right back for Troy with a trey of his own leaving it 24-23 with 3:57 to go. Haddock got two to go in the lane to give the Blue Raiders a 30-25 lead going into halftime.

The Trojans are in action next on Saturday when they host east division leader Western Kentucky at 7:30 pm at Trojan Arena. The game will also be televised locally by WSFA Weather Plus in Montgomery, My Network TV 4 in Dothan and WRJM in Troy.