Troy Falls 72-66 To Wyoming After Two-Hour Delay

Monday, December 19

Laramie, Wyo.

8 P.M.

Troy University

6-6

Wyoming

9-2

Troy

Wyoming Cowboys

Troy Falls 72-66 To Wyoming After Two-Hour Delay

12/20/2016 12:52:00 AM | Basketball (M)

Box Score

By: Russ Schaffer

Box Score

LARAMIE, Wyoming – Troy led for much of the way following a power outage that nearly postponed the game, but the Trojans could not hold on and fell 72-66 to Wyoming on Monday night.

Wyoming (9-2) got out to a 13-6 lead before Troy (6-6) went on a 7-0 run to tie it up. Jeremy Hollimon sank a free throw and as Wyoming took the ball down the court there was a complete power outage.

Only overhead emergency lighting remained on as the arena, and all of Laramie, experienced a power outage at approximately 7:20 p.m, reportedly due to strong winds in the area.

The officials deemed that Mountain West Conference rules would be followed, which stated that if power had not come back on two hours after play was delayed, the game would be postponed.

At approximately 9:14 p.m.—four minutes away from the two-hour allotment—the lights beamed back on. Both teams had 10 minutes to warm up before play resumed.

Despite the delay, Troy appeared to still be full of energy coming out of the break. The Trojans went on a 20-8 run in the first half, led by 10 points by Wesley Person in the frame, to lead 32-29 at half.

It marked the fifth-straight game Troy has led at half. It also marked a special night for Person as his four 3-pointers gave him 201 for his career. Person became the fourth player in Troy's program history to record 200 3-pointers for his career.

The basket came at the 17:39 mark of the second half. After a Cowboys miss, Troy passed the ball around the key before it got to Person. Like so many others in his career, the 3-pointer hit only net to put him in the Troy history book.

The historic 3-pointer was one of four Person had on the night en route to a team-leading 16 points on the night. Shortly after the shot from deep, Person hit another to extend the Troy lead to 10 with 17:21 left.

Troy held the lead or was tied from 10:58 of the first half all the way until 3:23 was left in the game when two free throws by Justin James gave Wyoming the lead. James was a dominant force all night as he put up 27 points, the most an individual has had against Troy all season.

Just 10 seconds later, Troy would regain the lead on a layup by Varnado, but that would be the last lead Troy would have on the night. Varnado, who had 12 points and eight rebounds, fouled out 20 seconds later. The Trojans would only score four more points as Wyoming closed the game on an 11-4 run.

Quotable
"It's a shame because we put ourselves in a position to win," head coach Phil Cunningham said. "It's a tough set of circumstances, but they were under the same circumstances. To play so well, especially in the second half, it is really disheartening to let it get away in the end. We just never got in any kind of rhythm shooting the ball."

Stat of the Game
Wesley Person had four 3-pointers against USC and followed that up with four more against Wyoming on Monday. Those helped him become the fourth player in program history to get to 200 career 3-pointers. The all-time leader is Rhodney Donaldson, who has 269 for his career. Robert Rushing is next at 258 and Brandon Hazzard has 209. All four have come in the past 25 years. Donaldson is the eldest of the four as he played for Troy from 1993-1997.

Turning Point
Jordon Varnado led the Trojans with eight rebounds on the night and was third with 12 points. After he fouled out, Wyoming outscored Troy 9-4 down the stretch. Two of those Trojan points were on free throws by Juan Davis, Jr. Justin James scored on an uncontested layup to give the Cowboys a 67-64 lead with 56 seconds remaining. On the following possession, a potential game tying 3-pointer by Wesley Person was off the mark. Wyoming grabbed the rebound and finished the game off with five free throws.

Noteworthy
• Wesley Person sits in fourth place in made 3-pointers in Troy history. He is now eight behind Brandon Hazzard for third place, who has 209 for his career.

• This game was the second power outage for Phil Cunningham as he also waited through a power outage in 1985 during his senior year in a game against Green County.

• It was the second time that Wyoming has had a power outage delay in its history. The Cowboys had the delay on Dec. 7, 1996 in a 90-72 loss at UMass.

• The lead only changed five times in the entire game. Troy led for 26:34 while Wyoming led for 10:19.

Up Next
Troy will travel to Las Vegas for the final two games of the Las Vegas Classic. The Trojans will face Cornell on Thursday and either SEMO or Chicago State on Friday. For more information on Troy men's basketball, follow the team on social media at @TroyMensHoops or by visiting TroyTrojans.com.