Troy University Athletics
Thursday, February 18
TROY
7:00 PM
Troy University
66
vs
62
Middle Tennessee
Troy in First after Win Over MTSU
2/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Basketball (M)
TROY – Troy withstood a late charge by Middle Tennessee on Thursday night to pull off a 66-62 win and move into a three-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt's east division.
The victory gave the Trojans (14-11, 9-5) their first season sweep of MTSU since the 2006-07 season. The victory also thrust Troy into a three-way tie with MTSU and Florida Atlantic in the east division.
It also tied those three squads with Arkansas State and North Texas in the overall league standings. The victory gives Troy just its second 10-win Sun Belt season. The squad won 14 games a season ago.
“It was a very important win for us, obviously because of our standings,” head coach Don Maestri said. “It was also a very important win for the Sun Belt Conference because Arkansas State lost tonight and five teams have the identical record of 10-5. There are five teams tied for first place in the league and there are three games left for everyone. The finish is going to be one whirlwind finish for the Sun Belt Conference this year.”
Troy connected on just one of its first nine shots and fell behind 9-2 to the Blue Raiders. The Trojans then countered with a 12-3 run that resulted in a 14-12 lead with nine minutes left in the opening stanza.
Brandon Hazzard split a pair to make it 27-20, but MTSU followed that with consecutive pairs of free throws to slice Troy's advantage to 27-24 with 1:51 to go before the break.
Hazzard was held to just six points on the night, including 0-of-6 from the field. It was just the fifth game this season where he failed to register double-figures.
“The thing is, when someone is going to try and shut Brandon out like this team did tonight, and did a very good job of it, we have four other guys in double-figures,” Maestri said. “Basketball is a team game and if you are going to be any good you have to win with the whole team, not just one guy. So if the emphasis is all on him and the other guys step up, you have a good chance to win.”
James Washington made it an 8-0 run by the Blue Raiders over a period of 2:43 to put MTSU back in the lead 28-27 with 34 seconds left. Vernon Taylor got a leaner to go in the lane with 12 seconds left and the Trojans rallied for a defensive stop to give them a 29-28 halftime advantage.
Two in the lane by Yamene Coleman completed a 9-0 run by the Trojans to open the second half. The senior center drained two free throws at the 13:40 mark to put his Trojans up by 11.
The Blue Raiders made their run late in the second half and cut Troy's lead all the way down to five points at 58-53 with just less than three minutes to go. Following a Coleman free throw, Calvin O'Neil sank a pair of his own to leave his MTSU squad down just four with 2:15 left.
MTSU trimmed the Troy lead to three points, but James Washington missed a 3-pointer to tie and Richard Delk grabbed the rebound for Troy. After a foul, Delk sank a pair at the line to put the Trojans up 61-56 with 28 seconds remaining.
The Raiders made two 3-pointers with less than 15 seconds remaining in the game, but Troy sank 5-of-6 free throws in that same stretch to hold on for the victory.
“When you are finishing a game off, you can't afford to miss free throws,” Maestri said. “Two of our better ones, Mike [Vogler] and Brandon [Hazzard], missed one. Then I think Mike came back and Richard [Delk] finished them off with his free throws. I don't care what anyone says about free throw shooting, they don't all count the same. The ones at the end of the game count more, especially when you have the lead and are trying to finish a game out.
“I've always believed that free throws in the final two or three minutes are more important that free throws anytime in the first half or the first 17 minutes of the second half. So Richard [Delk] hit some clutch free throws, where if they hit the 3-point shot, it wouldn't have made any difference at the end.”
Delk led the Trojans with 15 points and nine rebounds. Vogler (11 points), Antywan Jones (10 points) and Bernard Toombs (10 points) each reached double-figures.
O'Neil paced the Blue Raiders with 18 points. Washington added 15 in the losing effort.
The Trojans close out the home slate of regular season games on Saturday with Senior Night. Troy will face Florida Atlantic on Saturday night with tip-off set for 7:30 pm.
The victory gave the Trojans (14-11, 9-5) their first season sweep of MTSU since the 2006-07 season. The victory also thrust Troy into a three-way tie with MTSU and Florida Atlantic in the east division.
It also tied those three squads with Arkansas State and North Texas in the overall league standings. The victory gives Troy just its second 10-win Sun Belt season. The squad won 14 games a season ago.
“It was a very important win for us, obviously because of our standings,” head coach Don Maestri said. “It was also a very important win for the Sun Belt Conference because Arkansas State lost tonight and five teams have the identical record of 10-5. There are five teams tied for first place in the league and there are three games left for everyone. The finish is going to be one whirlwind finish for the Sun Belt Conference this year.”
Troy connected on just one of its first nine shots and fell behind 9-2 to the Blue Raiders. The Trojans then countered with a 12-3 run that resulted in a 14-12 lead with nine minutes left in the opening stanza.
Brandon Hazzard split a pair to make it 27-20, but MTSU followed that with consecutive pairs of free throws to slice Troy's advantage to 27-24 with 1:51 to go before the break.
Hazzard was held to just six points on the night, including 0-of-6 from the field. It was just the fifth game this season where he failed to register double-figures.
“The thing is, when someone is going to try and shut Brandon out like this team did tonight, and did a very good job of it, we have four other guys in double-figures,” Maestri said. “Basketball is a team game and if you are going to be any good you have to win with the whole team, not just one guy. So if the emphasis is all on him and the other guys step up, you have a good chance to win.”
James Washington made it an 8-0 run by the Blue Raiders over a period of 2:43 to put MTSU back in the lead 28-27 with 34 seconds left. Vernon Taylor got a leaner to go in the lane with 12 seconds left and the Trojans rallied for a defensive stop to give them a 29-28 halftime advantage.
Two in the lane by Yamene Coleman completed a 9-0 run by the Trojans to open the second half. The senior center drained two free throws at the 13:40 mark to put his Trojans up by 11.
The Blue Raiders made their run late in the second half and cut Troy's lead all the way down to five points at 58-53 with just less than three minutes to go. Following a Coleman free throw, Calvin O'Neil sank a pair of his own to leave his MTSU squad down just four with 2:15 left.
MTSU trimmed the Troy lead to three points, but James Washington missed a 3-pointer to tie and Richard Delk grabbed the rebound for Troy. After a foul, Delk sank a pair at the line to put the Trojans up 61-56 with 28 seconds remaining.
The Raiders made two 3-pointers with less than 15 seconds remaining in the game, but Troy sank 5-of-6 free throws in that same stretch to hold on for the victory.
“When you are finishing a game off, you can't afford to miss free throws,” Maestri said. “Two of our better ones, Mike [Vogler] and Brandon [Hazzard], missed one. Then I think Mike came back and Richard [Delk] finished them off with his free throws. I don't care what anyone says about free throw shooting, they don't all count the same. The ones at the end of the game count more, especially when you have the lead and are trying to finish a game out.
“I've always believed that free throws in the final two or three minutes are more important that free throws anytime in the first half or the first 17 minutes of the second half. So Richard [Delk] hit some clutch free throws, where if they hit the 3-point shot, it wouldn't have made any difference at the end.”
Delk led the Trojans with 15 points and nine rebounds. Vogler (11 points), Antywan Jones (10 points) and Bernard Toombs (10 points) each reached double-figures.
O'Neil paced the Blue Raiders with 18 points. Washington added 15 in the losing effort.
The Trojans close out the home slate of regular season games on Saturday with Senior Night. Troy will face Florida Atlantic on Saturday night with tip-off set for 7:30 pm.
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