Troy University Athletics
Troy University
Western Kentucky
Troy's Streak Ends at WKU
2/7/2010 2:00:00 AM | Basketball (M)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Troy Trojans never led on Saturday night as they fell 87-69 to Western Kentucky in Sun Belt action at Diddle Arena.
The loss ended a season-best three-game winning streak and dropped the Trojans to 0-5 all-time in Bowling Green. The defeat combined with a win by MTSU dropped Troy into a second-place tie with Florida Atlantic in the east division.
It took more than three minutes for the Trojans (13-11, 8-5 SBC) to finally find the bottom of the basket and when Brandon Hazzard connected on that long two, it left Troy behind 7-2.
A 3-pointer by Sergio Kerusch made it 26-15 in favor of the Toppers. That basket started a 13-4 run for WKU that widened Troy's deficit all the way to 36-19 with 6:59 remaining.
Turnovers were a problem for the Trojans in the first half. 11
Troy miscues led to 18 points for the
Hilltoppers and a 43-28 halftime lead
The game ended with WKU (13-11, 6-6 SBC) getting 24 points off 13 Trojans turnovers. One bright spot for Troy was that the team committed just two turnovers after the break.
Troy was victim to a 10-4 run to over the first 4:29 of the second half as WKU opened its lead to 53-32. The run was capped by consecutive baskets from Steffphon Pettigrew. The junior finished with a team-high 25 points.
The Trojans were able to get no closer than 14 points when Mike Vogler whittled the deficit to 64-50 with a four-point play with just more than nine minutes left. Vogler had 11 for the contest.
Hazzard (16 points) and Antywan Jones (career-high 20 points) led the Trojans offensively. Troy shot just 15.8 percent (3-for-19) from beyond the arc, compared to the Hilltoppers' 46.2 percent (12-of-26).
Hazzard and AJ Slaughter entered the game tied for the scoring lead in the Sun Belt, but Slaughter's 17 points moved him slightly ahead of the Troy senior.
Troy is in action next a week from today when it hosts FIU for the Sun Belt Game of the Week on CSS and CST. Tip-off is set for 7 pm.
