Trojans End Streak in Overtime

Tuesday, December 21

Logan, Utah

6:30 p.m.

Troy University

102

Western Michigan University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

12/21/2010 10:10:44 PM | Basketball (M)

Improves Troy to 2-1 in Overtime in 10-11

By: Taylor Bryan

BOX SCORE

LOGAN, Utah – Troy let a big lead slip away again on Tuesday, but this time the Trojans refused to lose and ended an nine-game losing streak 102-99 on the first day of play in the 2010 Worldvision Invitational presented by Gossner Foods.

After two by Mike Douglas of Western Michigan, Troy pushed the ball and Will Weathers drew the fifth foul on Douglas. Weathers missed the first free throw, but he was able to salvage the second. Following two by Juwan Howard Jr., Travis Lee connected on his third trey to put the Trojans down just a point with less than a minute to go in overtime.

Following a Howard miss, Huddleston sank his eighth 3-pointer for a 100-98 lead with 23.8 seconds left in the overtime period. Lee and Huddleston scored 14 of Troy's 17 points in the overtime frame.

Western Michigan took the ball after a pair of timeouts and Demetrius Ward drew a foul on Bernard Toombs. Ward sank the first free throw, but missed the second and Toombs grabbed the rebound.

Toombs was fouled over-the-back and the senior went to the line for two with 19.6 to go. He sank the first forcing a Western Michigan timeout. The fifth-year senior from Columbus, Ga. then calmly stepped to the free throw line and sank the second for a 102-99 lead.

Toombs finished the game with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

Troy sank 17 3-pointers, the most for them since connecting on 18 against Paul Quinn College in November 2007. 17 treys also set a tournament record.

The Mustangs' Ward missed an opportunity to tie the game with three ticks left and Levan Patsatsia cleared away a rebound and avoided a foul to end the game.

“This was a big test for our guys because they haven't won a close game at the end,” Troy head coach Don Maestri said. “As disheartening as it was at the end of regulation for us to have to go into overtime, it was important for us to recover mentally, and hten make sure we played the next finve minutes with a chance to win the game.

“That was something that we were really proud of, that our players were resilient enough to not break at the end of regulation and come back and hit some big shots in overtime”

Troy enjoyed a good start to the game, knocking down three of its first four shots for a 10-4 lead before Western Michigan went on a 10-3 run to take a 14-13 lead.

Flynn Clayman's first 3-pointer of the season and a trey by Huddleston gave the Trojans a 24-17 lead. A triple by Lee put Troy up 27-17 with 12 minutes left. Huddleston set a career-high with 26 points on 8-of-13 from deep for a tournament game record.

Another trey by Huddleston gave Troy its largest lead – 16 points at 46-30 with 4:12 left in the first half. Huddleston scored 12 points in the first half to pace the Trojans.

The Trojans built their lead up to as many as 20 with 58 seconds left on a Toombs dunk, but the Mustangs scored a pair of baskets around a Weathers turnover to send the game to halftime at 56-40.

56 points was the most Troy had scored in one half this season.

Troy picked up in the second half, where they left off in the first, beginning the second frame with a 10-4 run. The burst became 13-4 on a Huddleston triple for a 69-44 lead with 15 minutes left.

The 25-point lead would be short-lived as Juwan Howard Jr. went to work. The freshman forward scored 15 points in the second half as the Mustangs erased the Troy advantage. He finished with 24 for the game. Ward added 21.

He scored 10 straight points to pull his squad within three and setup Ward for the tying attempt.

With nine seconds left, the Mustangs knotted the game on a trey by Ward. Troy had a chance to score a winner, but Weathers again lost the ball out of bounds.

Troy started off overtime poorly with a five second turnover and Ward made them pay with a quick 3-pointer for an 88-85 advantage.

The Trojans will be without leading scorer Vernon Taylor for the remainder of the tournament. He exited the game with around five minutes left with an apparent ankle injury. Taylor scored 16 points against Western Michigan.

Weathers recorded his first double-double as a Trojan and posted the first double-digit assist game for a Troy player this season. He finished with 12 points a career-best 13 assists.

Shawntez Patterson had 14 points and Lee scored 11 as Troy placed six players in double-figures. Patsatsia had six rebounds and a career-high eight assists.

The Trojans are in action next on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm central time when they face Idaho State on day two of tournament action.