Trojans Fall to UTSA

Monday, November 22

San Antonio, TX

7:00 p.m.

Troy University

University of Texas San Antonio

11/22/2010 9:15:28 PM | Basketball (M)

Out-manned Troy squad drops game 81-70.

By: Taylor Bryan

BOX SCORE

SAN ANTONIO – For the second-straight game the Troy Trojans fell behind at halftime and despite a valiant second half effort, were unable to battle back before falling 81-70 to the UTSA Roadrunners on Monday night.

Troy (1-3) battled all night, but in the end succumbed to the deeper UTSA squad. Due to injuries to four scholarship players, the Trojans dressed just seven scholarship players and played eight, compared to the Roadrunners using 12 student-athletes in the contest.

The lack of depth was shown no clearer than in the bench points category where UTSA led the Trojans 36-4.

“They put a lot of effort in tonight,” Troy head coach Don Maestri said. “When you are short-manned as we are, that is the only way you can really have a chance. I am really proud of how hard we played tonight. They had a chance to cut it down to six and stay in the game. It's always disappointing to not come out on top, but you have to praise the effort of our kids tonight.”

Turnovers were a problem for both squads in the first half with the two teams combining for 19 in the opening stanza, but UTSA (3-1) was able to withstand the errors and take a 33-24 lead into halftime.

Troy trailed by as many as 10, but finally got their first free throw attempt with 4:46 left and used the foul line to pare the lead to four at 28-24. The good fortune would be short lived as UTSA was able to counter and engineer a 5-0 run to close out the half.

The Trojans hit just 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) first half shots. Vernon Taylor led all first half scorers with eight points.

UTSA caught fire and completed a 12-5 run capped by two 3-pointers from Tyler Wood. Troy was able to drop the lead down to seven, but Stephen Franklin answered with a lay-up to give the Roadrunners another nine-point advantage.

Troy was able to get within seven at 72-65 with three minutes left, but Franklin scored two and Patsatsia missed from deep. Devin Gibson added two at the foul line to put UTSA's lead back to double-digits.

Taylor finished as the game's leading scorer with a career-high 25. He was joined in double-figures by Patsatsia (13) and Taylor (12).Senior Bernard Toombs was the leading rebounder with seven.

Gibson scored 23 and posted a double-double with 10 rebounds to lead UTSA.

The Trojans are in action next on Friday night when they complete a four-game road swing against Mississippi State. Tip-off is set for 6 pm in Starkville.