Troy Falls Victim to Buzzer Beater

Saturday, January 16

Mobile, Ala.

7:05 PM

Troy University

South Alabama

1/17/2010 1:00:00 AM | Basketball (M)

MOBILE, Ala. – South Alabama's Allyn Cooks went coast-to-coast to score two points and give his squad a 69-67 win over the Troy Trojans in Sun Belt action on Saturday night.

Mike Vogler tied the game for Troy with a 3-pointer with seven seconds on the clock, but Cooks went coast-to-coast and got a running two to go as time expired to get the win.

“I thought we played a pretty solid second half,” head coach Don Maestri said. “The first half I thought we played pretty terrible. In the second half I felt like we played a lot better offensive game. I felt like we controlled the game in the second half. We really commanded the game up until we got that technical foul with a seven-point lead.”

Troy (9-9, 4-3) and South Alabama traded blows up to the 6:10 mark of half number two when two points by Vernon Taylor and a three-point play by Richard Delk on consecutive possessions gave the Trojans a five-point lead.

Antywan Jones stretched the Trojans' lead to seven points on a dunk after Vogler found him un-guarded in the fast break. In a weird turn of events, Jones was called for a technical foul on the ensuing possession and Bryan Sherrer sank both free throws while also giving USA the ball.

The technical swung the game's momentum and after two by Javier Carter, a lead that had been seven was down to three. Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Jags (12-7, 4-3) were able to tie the game on a three by Martino Brock.

With 2:47 left, Brock converted a three-point play completing a 10-0 run by USA to take a 65-62 lead. Brock finished the game with a team-best 17 points.

Troy got two on the a Yamene Coleman dunk to drop the deficit to a point, but a Brandon Hazzard trey was off the mark giving the Jags the ball up one with 1:05 left.

South Alabama got a runner to go for a three-point lead, but Troy had possession with 24 ticks on the clock.

The Jaguars opened up a 9-2 lead in the first 2:27 on the back of two baskets by senior guard Sherrer.

But the Trojans kept playing hard and battled back to take their first lead on a Hazzard 3-pointer and stretched it to 23-18 with another trey, this time by Jones.

USA initiated a press that lead to back-to-back baskets and cut the Trojans lead to a point and took the lead 30-29 on a lay-up by Carter. Carter sank a pair at the line to push the USA lead to three.

Levan Patsatsia hit on two from the foul line to draw within one and Richard Delk sank a turnaround jumper in the lane to put Troy back on top with 29 seconds left in the half. The Trojans took that 33-32 lead into the break.

The first five minutes went by quickly with both teams battling to a 39-39 tie before Delk gave Troy the lead with a free throw at the 15:19 mark. Michael Vogler made it a three-point Troy lead with a tear drop runner for two.

Brock quickly tied the game for the Jags with a trey, but the Trojans answered with a two in the lane by Coleman. He posted his fifth double-double of the season with a career-high tying 20 points and 14 rebounds.