Troy Rallies At Coastal Carolina For Fourth-Straight Win

Thursday, February 15

Conway, S.C.

6:30 P.M.

Troy University

13-13, 7-6SBC

Coastal Carolina

11-16, 5-9SBC

TROY

Coastal Carolina

Troy Rallies At Coastal Carolina For Fourth-Straight Win

2/15/2018 9:27:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score

By: Russ Schaffer

Box Score (PDF)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The winning ways continued as Troy remained perfect in February with a fourth-straight victory after rallying from 12 down on the road to come out on top 66-65 over Coastal Carolina thanks to a Kevin Baker free throw with 22 seconds remaining.

Things looked bleak as Amidou Bamba hit a free-throw to put the Chanticleers (11-16, 5-9) up 12 with 10:40 remaining as Jordon Varnado sat on the bench with four fouls.

That lead, however, didn't last long as Troy (13-13, 7-6) used strong defense to hold Coastal Carolina to three points over the ensuing six minutes. With the frontcourt in foul trouble, Kevin Baker and the guards took over the scoring duties in crunch time.

Baker's 3-pointer with 5:54 left capped the rally and put the Trojans back on top 60-59. The Chanticleers responded with two quick baskets, but Troy held steady again as free throws by Baker and Wesley Person tied it at 63 with under three minutes to go.

A dunk by Bamba for a 65-63 lead sparked the home crowd yet that proved to be the last points of the night for the Chanticleers. Just 23 seconds later, Varnado hit a tough jumper in traffic to knot it up.

Coastal Carolina got an extended possession with an offensive rebound off a missed three, but the next 3-pointer was also off. That put Troy in a position to take the lead as Baker drew a blocking foul on Bamba and proceeded to hit the first free throw for the final advantage.

The Trojans played suffocating defense with the game on the line, which forced Jaylen Shaw to drive baseline and take a contested shot at the rim with three seconds left. Baker snagged the rebound and held on until the buzzer sounded.

QUOTABLE
"We won all three games in our last home stand, but we told our team that the toughest teams go and win on the road," head coach Phil Cunningham said. "That's going to be a tough game on Saturday afternoon against Appalachian State, but the momentum we have right now is huge.

"That's an excited locker room right now. This time of the year, some of the individual stuff gets thrown out the window and you just want the team to win. That celebration in the locker room was just a lot of pure team emotion.

UP NEXT
The Trojans will shoot for five-straight wins with a matinee matchup at Appalachian State on Saturday.

NOTEWORTHY
• Troy won despite all three forwards having three fouls or more and getting outscored in the paint 34-14.

• Kevin Baker's 14 points was tied for his second-highest total of the season and was the most in his career coming off the bench.

• Threes proved to be the winning factor for Troy as the Trojans were 12-30 (40 percent) while the Chanticleers went just 4-24 (16.7 percent).

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