Hot Second Half Lifts Troy Past WKU

Thursday, January 13

Troy, Ala.

7:00 p.m.

Troy University

Western Kentucky University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

1/13/2011 10:32:56 PM | Basketball (M)

Trojans Explode for 56 Points in Second Half

By: Taylor Bryan

BOX SCORE :: PHOTO GALLERY

TROY – Troy shot just 25 percent in the first half, but tied a season-high for points in a half in the 2nd and got a lift from Travis Lee as the team picked up its first Sun Belt win of the year over WKU 82-68 on Thursday night in Sartain Hall.

Although the Trojans rebounded the ball well in the opening half, they struggled to put the ball in the basket. Troy out-rebounded the Hilltoppers 29-19 before the break, but shot just 25 percent from the field.

The Trojans (3-13, 1-3 SBC) connected on only 10-of-40 field goals in the first half, compared to Western Kentucky (5-10, 0-3) who shot over 42 percent from the floor.

Troy came out with a renewed vigor after halftime and the Toppers faded and the Trojans raced to its first lead with a 12-5 burst out of the gates. Troy would go on to shoot 58.6 percent in the second half, including 62 percent from outside as they tied a season-best mark with 56 points in the latter frame.

“It's nice to see the team happy after a game,” Troy head coach Don Maestri said. “They were as excited in the locker room as any team we've ever had. That's how important a victory was for this basketball team. They've gone through some things that no team since I've been here has had to go through, form injuries to travel to chemistry problems.

“If you watched the first half of tonight's game … that was maybe the worst basketball that I've seen and we had such a good crowd, and all I could think was that if we don't play better than this in the second half, then none of these people are coming back to watch basketball. This was a sloppy first half by both teams, even though they had the lead.”

The Trojans also scored 56 points in the first half against Western Michigan. Troy had lost four-straight games since a 102-99 defeat of the Mustangs on December 21.

The rebounding advantage continued to favor Troy in the second half. The Men of Troy collected 56 rebounds compared to just 36 for WKU.

Troy trailed by as many 13 with 4:08 left, but an 11-2 run in the final three minutes narrowed the margin to four before Jamal Crook scored a lay-up with six seconds left for the halftime deficit.

“The only positive was that in the last few minutes of the first half, I could see us gaining a little bit of a feel defensively,” Maestri said. “We went into halftime leading in the rebounding department, which meant we were not giving them second and third shots. The turnaround started in the second half when we started to score. Defensively, we still stayed solid in the second half. The effort was there defensively all night.”

WKU got 15 big points from Sergio Kerusch in the opening stanza and led the Trojans 32-26 at the half. Vernon Taylor led Troy with 12. Kerusch finished the game with 24 points and 13 rebounds after fouling out, while Taylor scored 20 to lead Troy.

The Trojans closed to within a point at 37-36, then a foul line jumper by Taylor gave them their first lead of the contest. Troy stretched its lead to four on a 3-pointer by Will Weathers with 14:01 left.

Weather, the current Sun Belt Player of the Week, churned out another solid all-around performance with 17 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.

Travis Lee sank back-to-back treys to give Troy its largest lead thus far – 55-47 with just more than 10 minutes remaining. Lee had hit just one of his last 16 3-pointers coming into Thursday night's game, but connected on 4-of-6 in the contest and finished with 12 points.

“We told T-Lee yesterday, 'It's about time you pay off, T-Lee',” Maestri said. “The basket got big for him after he hit his second one. You could see his confidence really zoomed.”

Troy widened its lead to 12, 61-49 with 8:32 remaining, on a dunk by Steven Cunningham. The junior from Dothan made his first career start and posted career-highs in points (eight) and minutes (23).

Another trey by Lee put Troy up 16 and forced WKU coach Ken McDonald into a timeout. Levan Patsatsia answered the timeout with a triple and a 68-49 lead with seven minutes remaining. Patsatsia was the fourth Trojan in double-figures with 10.

The Toppers pared the lead to 12 points before Cunningham hit a 3-pointer. Steffphon Pettigrew immediately answered with a three-point play, but Troy still led 71-59 with 4:18 to go.

The Trojans hit on 5-of-6 free throws in the final three minutes and an emphatic dunk by Bernard Toombs capped their scoring. Juan Pattillo added a lay-in with six seconds left for the final margin.

Troy host North Texas in more Sun Belt action on Saturday. The game is a rematch of the 2010 Sun Belt Championship game. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm and the game will be televised on CSS as the Sun Belt Game of the Week.