Second Half Surge Pushes Little Rock Past Troy

Wednesday, January 22

Little Rock, Ark.

6:30 p.m.

Troy University

8-13,4-6Sun Belt

Little Rock

14-7,8-2Sun Belt

Troy

Little Rock

Photo by: Mark Wagner

Second Half Surge Pushes Little Rock Past Troy

1/22/2020 9:36:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Head Coach Scott Cross

By: Troy Athletics Communications

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Despite 14 second half points from junior Ty Gordon, the Troy University Trojans fell to first place Little Rock 81-63 Wednesday night at the Jack Stephens Center.

After heading into the locker room down just 37-34, Troy (8-13, 4-6 Sun Belt) was outscored 11-3 over the first 4:14 of the half, allowing Little Rock (14-7, 8-2 Sun Belt) to take a 48-37 advantage with 15:46 left in the game.

Gordon and Troy did eventually cut the Little Rock advantage to just 60-53 with 9:03 left in the game, but a quick 7-0 outburst gave the Arkansas-based Trojans a 67-53 lead with 7:03 remaining.

In the second half, Little Rock shot 52 percent and scored 28 of their 44 points in the paint. For the game, Troy shot just 7-of-26 (27 percent from behind the 3-point arc) and turned the ball 15 times.

After going down 6-2 early, Troy used a 9-0 outburst to take an 11-6 lead with 13:50 left in the first half.

Little Rock would respond over the next 60 seconds, using a quick 6-0 spurt to take a 12-11 led with 12:50 to play in the first half.

A Desmond Williams triple gave Troy a brief 16-14 lead, before Little Rock used a 12-4 run to take a 28-20 advantage with 6:46 to play.

Needing an answer, Troy used 10-1 outburst to take a 30-29 advantage, but one last 8-4 stretch gave Little Rock a 37-34 advantage at the break.

In the opening 20 minutes, Troy held the aggressive Little Rock front-court to zero offensive rebounds and outscored the home team 18-16 in the paint.

After playing just seven minutes due to foul trouble (three in the first half), Gordon played nearly all of the first 15 minutes of the second half, scoring the 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting. The junior hit all four of his free throw attempts in the second half, before fouling out with less than five minutes to play.

Despite the strong play from Gordon, Troy was outscored 44-29 overall in the second half, and 28-6 in the paint. For the game, Troy did enjoy a 44-36 rebounding advantage, and recorded nearly double (16) the second chance points that Little Rock (9) did.

Troy returns to action Saturday afternoon when the Arkansas State Red Wolves visit Trojan Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:15 p.m.

HEAD COACH SCOTT CROSS:
"I thought our guys played hard and tough. In the first half we couldn't have executed our game plan any better defensively. I was really proud about how we rebounded and blocked them out. Little Rock did a good job defensively and made things hard on us. We really struggled to score a little bit, but I felt like if we stuck to the game plan, we'd have a chance to win the game in the second half. In the end they were able to penetrate against our zone and had too many easy dump-offs. They got a couple of offensive rebounds, but the turnovers were the real issue tonight. We had some really terrible turnovers in the second half that allowed them to have some two-on-zero or two-on-one breaks. They were able to turn those situations into an easy dunk or layup because it's almost impossible to defend those situations."

On Ty Gordon's bounce-back:
"Ty did a great job in the second half and gave us a boost. He was the one guy who was feeling it a little bit and was able to score. The technical he got assessed in the first half really hurt him. We had to pull him out in the first half and ended up causing him to foul out down the stretch when we really could have used him. Hopefully Ty will grow from this because we can't afford to not have him on the floor for four-and five-minute stretches. He's one of our best scorers, can really defend and is an excellent passer. Hopefully he'll grow from this and be better from this."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Nick Stampley scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Five of his rebounds were offensive.
• Stampley recorded eight points and seven rebounds in the first half.
• After allowing 19 offensive rebounds and 20 second chance points, Troy rebounded way more effectively tonight. The Trojans allowed just six offensive boards, and nine second chance points.
• Darian Adams scored just seven points tonight. After scoring in double-figures in 14 of Troy's first 18 games, Adams has failed to reach double figures in three consecutive games.
• Troy allowed a conference high 81 points on Wednesday. The Trojans are now just 1-12 this season when allowing over 65 points.
• Four of Troy's eight second half field goals were scored by Gordon.
• Troy was an effective 14-of-17 from the free-throw line tonight.