Troy University Athletics
Troy University
Texas Tech University
Trojans Come Up Short in Season Opener Against Texas Tech
11/11/2011 11:36:00 PM | Basketball (M)
Will Weathers paces Troy with 24 points, as the Trojans are unable to come up with the upset victory for the Red Raiders.
Box Score
The Troy University Men's basketball team fell just short in the season opener on the road to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 90-85.
Troy (0-1) would force 19 turnovers and get six steals, as the Trojans would pressure the Red Raiders with a full-court press all night long, but could not captialize from the free throw line where the Trojans shot 18-for-32 on the night.
Will Weathers paced the Trojans with 24 points, four rebounds, and three assists in 29 minutes, along with Steven Cunningham who added 12 points in the loss.
Six Trojans would see their first action in a Division-I basketball game in front of a crowd of 10,088 at United Spirit Arena.
"I'm very proud of the effort, it kept us in the game, it would have given us a big upset if we could have won this one," head coach Don Maestri said.
Texas Tech 90, Troy 85
Down early in the first half, R.J. Scott, Cunningham, and Weathers hit three straights three-pointers to put Troy on the board and give the Trojans an early 11-9 lead.
In what was a back-and-forth game, Texas Tech would answer with three big three point shots to give the Red Raiders a 22-17 lead. In his collegiate debut, Ty Nurse hit two of threes, as the junior started out 2-of-3 early from behind the line. Nurse would finish with 29 points in 39 minutes.
Down 41-30, late in the first half, the Trojans put their foot to the pedal and picked up the pressure on the Red Raiders. Troy would force two turnovers to get to quick baskets to cut the Red Raider lead to 41-35 and go to the half down, 45-40 at half.
In the second half, the Trojans would continue to pressure the Red Raiders and tie the game at 56-56 with a Nic Combs jumper from the free-throw line.
Troy would get three Texas Tech forwards into foul trouble in the second half. But, the Red Raiders will continue their hot shooting from behind the arc.
The Red Raiders would hit 10-of-19 shots from behind the arc and would go 14-for-24 from the free throw line, while the Trojans would make 10 three-point baskets, but would only shoot 56% (18-for-32) at the charity stripe.
"We were disappointed in our free throw shooting, when you miss 14 free-throws it's hard to win," Maestri said.
But down 76-67, Weathers would take charge driving to the basket twice, hitting a floater from the free-throw line, and making two free throws, to cut the Red Raider lead to 76-71.
Down the stretch, the Trojans would continue to try to cut the lead, but the Red Raiders would hold the Trojans off by hitting three shots as the shot clock was winding down to hold on for the 90-85 victory.
Troy will return to the court andt face LaGrange on Sunday afternoon for the final home opener in Sartain Hall. The Trojans are 18-4 all-time against LaGrange and our 10-1 at home against the Panthers.
