Late Surge Pushes Troy Past Cornell 92-84

Thursday, December 22

Las Vegas, Nev.

4:30 P.M.

Troy University

7-6

Cornell

2-8

CORNELL

Troy

12/22/2016 7:34:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score

By: Russ Schaffer

Box Score

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Cornell pushed Troy late into the second half on Thursday, but the Trojans found their groove and pulled away for a 92-84 win in the first of back-to-back games at the Orleans Arena.

Troy led by 10 at the half, but Cornell (2-8) kept chipping away at the deficit and took its first lead of the night on a 3-pointer by Matt Morgan with 13:35 left to go in the game. It would be the first and last time the Big Red would lead for the night.

Troy (7-6) responded a minute later with a 3-pointer by Wesley Person, who led the Trojans with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. While Cornell would tie the game up twice more, the Big Red couldn't find answers to Troy's balanced attack.

Six different players notched double-digit scoring for Troy. Person's deep shooting was aided by Kevin Baker, who had 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 3-of-7 shooting from 3-point range.

It looked as if the Trojans may have run away with it early as at the 14:33 mark of the first half, Troy was already out to a 17-3 lead thanks largely to the coming out party for Alex Hicks.

The forward had 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting with four rebounds, two blocks and a steal in the first half alone. That, however, would be the end of scoring for Hicks as he finished just one point off his career-high.

Cornell threatened at points in the opening frame, but only got it as close as five points in the first half as Troy took a 40-30 lead into the break.

DeVon Walker opened the second half with a 3-pointer, the first of his career, but Cornell got right back into the game with a 22-9 run fueled by four 3-pointers from three different players. Walker finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The Big Red shot 34.5 percent form the field and 29.4 percent from three in the first half but caused the Trojans trouble by shooting 54.3 percent (19-of-35) from the field and 11-21 (52.4 percent) from deep in the second half.

The hot shooting was led by Morgan, who had 27 points, and Stone Gettings, who had 22 points. The other double-digit scorers for Troy were Jordon Varnado with 10 points and Jeremy Hollimon with 12.

Quotable
"I was really pleased with the way we responded to adversity in the second half," head coach Phil Cunningham said. "We had a comfortable lead coming out of halftime, but Matt Morgan went on a roll there in making some deep threes. We could have easily folded up the tent when they took the lead, but we didn't. We stayed the course and retook the lead. We iced the game from the free throw line, which was impressive for us to do. There was a lot of pressure on some of those shots that we made."

Stat of the Game
Cornell shot just 55.6 percent from the floor, which potentially cost the Big Red a shot at picking up a crucial win in the first of back-to-back games in Las Vegas. Cornell was just 10-of-18 from the free-throw line compared to Troy's stellar 26-of-33 (78.8 percent) from the charity stripe. It was the most free throws the Trojans have made this season by six.

Turning Point
Two free throws by Darryl Smith of Cornell cut the deficit to three with 8:42 left. Kevin Baker got the lead back up to seven with 6:16 to go, but Robert Hatter looked as if he might have given the Big Red a huge momentum swing when he hit a layup and was fouled with 5:21 to go to cut the lead to five. Instead, he missed the free throw and both teams went scoreless until Baker hit another 3-pointer with 3:57 on the clock. Wesley Person added a layup 29 seconds for a 10-point lead that held up down the stretch.

Noteworthy
• Troy's 40-30 halftime lead marked the fifth-consecutive game in which the Trojans have led at half.

• The win guarantees that the Trojans will be .500 or better going into conference play. It will be the second time Phil Cunningham will have met that threshold in non-conference play.

• Cornell shot the lowest percentage from the free-throw line against Troy this year. Cornell was just 55.6 percent from the charity stripe.

• Jeremy Hollimon now has double-digit points for seven straight games. It is the longest such streak of the senior's career.

Up Next
Troy will face Chicago State tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. after Chicago State won its first game against SEMO. It will mark the end of non-conference play. The Trojans will have a week off before traveling to Mobile, Ala. to open up Sun Belt season against South Alabama on Jan. 2. For more information on Troy men's basketball, follow along on social media at @TroyMensHoops or by visiting TroyTrojans.com.