Late Game Heroics Leads Troy to a Perfect Weekend in Vegas

Friday, December 20

Las Vegas, Nev.

2 p.m.

Troy University

9-2,0-0Sun Belt

Kent State

6-4,0-0MAC

Kent St.

Troy

Late Game Heroics Leads Troy to a Perfect Weekend in Vegas

12/20/2019 4:58:00 PM | Basketball (W)

Box Score

By: Troy Athletics Communications

LAS VEGAS – Troy's Japonica James struggled to get the ball to go into the hoop for most of the Las Vegas trip, but the senior showed moxie and was the spark that the Trojans needed late in a battle against Kent State. James' late game heroics were enough as Troy closed out the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic with a 71-64 victory over Kent State and improving to 9-2 on the year.

One thing is for certain, this Trojan team will not quit. We saw it against Duke and we saw it again against a very talented Kent State team out the MAC. Troy trailed for over 33 minutes, before the senior leadership of Japonica James was put on full display.

James, who on the previous possession ran into a charge negating an easy layup that would have given Troy the lead for the first time since the opening minutes, regrouped and made the play of the season for the Trojans.

James broke in front of Kent State's guard to tip the pass away before sprinting to grab the ball and head down court for the layup, all while absorbing the contact to power it in and draw the foul. With Troy up two, James went to the line with a chance to give the Trojans a three-point lead. James, who was 1-for-9 from the charity stripe in both games in Vegas, didn't wavier. She knocked down the freebie that gave Troy the three-point advantage with just 14 seconds remaining on the clock.

With the lead Troy's defense did the rest, they forced Kent State into back-to-back turnovers before both Kayla Robinson and Tiyah Johnson hit clutch free throws to put the game out of reach and give Troy the 71-64 victory, and a perfect 2-0 weekend in Las Vegas.

The Golden Flashes controlled much of the first-half, outscoring Troy 15-12 in the first and 19-15 in the second. The Trojans did find a rhythm late in the second, scoring the final five points of the half to cut the deficit to seven heading into the locker room, five points that proved crucial late in the game. Troy was able to chip away at the deficit, outscoring Kent State 18-14 in the third and 26-16 in the fourth.

Records
Troy: 9-2
Kent State: 6-4

Trojan Spotlight
Kayla Robinson has played her best basketball of the season in these two games in Las Vegas. The senior followed up a 21-point performance against Toledo with a season-high 25 points against Kent State. This was just the second time in her career with back-to-back 20-point games, the last time back during the 2017-18 season. Beyond her game-high 25-points, she also had three rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Quoting Coach Rigby
On the big win over Kent State
"We were down for the pretty much the whole game and every time we would score, they would score. Finally, we broke it down to two and one point deficits but couldn't never get over that hump. Other than that, the first score of the game, James' layup was the first lead we had."

On the late game rally
"I can't say enough about our senior leadership. Kayla's been in these battles for four years and she's hungry. She's been coming off the bench for use and has been playing her role fantastic. I can't say enough about Japonica either. She couldn't get going the entire tournament. She couldn't get anything except fouls called against her but she kept her spirit up and made the play of the game for us."

Trojan Notables
• Troy won its second game of the season when losing the opening tip
• Troy improved to 9-1 in the month of December since the 2018-19 season
• Troy made just five three-pointers in the game to Kent State's 10
• Jasmine Robinson was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line
• We outrebounded KSU by 12

Up Next
Troy closed out its non-conference schedule on Friday against Kent State and will now be off for the Christmas holiday until the start of the new year. The Trojans will be back inside Trojan Arena for the first time Dec. 11 when they host Coastal Carolina at 6 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2020 to begin Sun Belt Conference play.

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