Southern Miss Downs Troy 89-71 Behind Hot Shooting

Sunday, December 10

Hattiesburg, Miss.

2 P.M.

Troy University

5-5

Southern Mississippi

5-4

TROY

Southern Miss

Southern Miss Downs Troy 89-71 Behind Hot Shooting

12/10/2017 4:21:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score

By: Russ Schaffer

Box Score (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Wesley Person scored 20 and became the first player in Troy history with 300 career 3-pointers, but it was not enough as Troy fell 89-71 to Southern Miss on Sunday in Reed Green Coliseum.

The beginning of the game was not a sign of what was to come as the Trojans (5-5) got out to a quick 5-0 lead thanks to a Juan Davis, Jr., three on the first possession. Southern Miss (5-4) punched back to tie it at 10 before the Golden Eagles started raining shots in.

A Dominic Magee 3-pointer gave Southern Miss the first double-digit lead of the day at 22-12. Southern Miss remained in the lead by double-digits for the majority of the game from that point on fueled by 27 from Magee and 23 from Tyree Griffin.

Troy closed out the first half on an 8-0 run to cut it to 38-31, but that momentum did not last as the Trojans got no closer than nine from the 19:31 mark of the second half to the end of the game.

Though Troy shot 52.8 percent (28-53) from the field, Southern Miss was even better at 56.6 percent (30-53). The Golden Eagles shot 19 free throws on the day to Troy's six.

QUOTABLE
"We struggled so badly defensively," head coach Phil Cunningham said. "Our plan was to play zone because sometimes you have to be realistic. We knew we didn't have much of a chance to guard them in man-to-man.

"When they got going early in man-to-man and we switched to zone as the counter, it didn't work. They made threes and forced us to go back to man-to-man. I thought we had a decent stretch there at the end of the half, but we couldn't guard their four guards."

UP NEXT
Troy will face its second SEC team of the non-conference schedule with a matchup against Arkansas on Saturday in North Little Rock, Ark.

NOTEWORTHY
• Wesley Person has now scored 20 or more in five-straight games

• Juan Davis, Jr., and B.J. Miller both made their return to their home state. Davis, Jr., had 10 points and three rebounds while Miller added four points, three rebounds and two assists.

• Troy narrowly lost the rebound battle 26-24 in the fourth-straight game without Jordon Varnado.

For more information on Troy men's basketball visit TroyTrojans.com or follow the team on social media at @TroyMensHoops.