Second-Half Senior Day Charge Comes Up Just Short

Saturday, February 27

Troy, Ala.

4 p.m.

Troy University

10-16,4-12Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

15-6,9-5Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

Troy

Second-Half Senior Day Charge Comes Up Just Short

2/27/2021 8:26:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. -- The Troy men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with one of the Sun Belt's best Saturday afternoon, before ultimately falling 76-71 to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Trojan Arena.

For the Trojans, senior Nick Stampley scored a career-best 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Duke Miles added 19 points, eight assists and four rebounds. The freshman didn't turn the ball over in his 32 minutes of action, and shot an efficient 6-of-10 from the field.

In total, four different Trojans reached double-figures including Stampley, Miles and senior Khalyl Waters (10 points, seven rebounds and three assists). Junior Zay Williams added 11 and six rebounds.

Coastal Carolina were led by guard DeVante' Johnson who scored 23 point and grabbed nine rebounds and freshman Essam Mostafa who dropped 13 points and grabbed 11 boards.

After starting slowly for the second consecutive night, the Trojans (10-16, 4-12 Sun Belt) cut an 11-4 Chanticleer (15-6, 9-5 Sun Belt) lead to just 13-9 with 13:54 to play.

A Deanthony Tipler triple and a Jones free throw gave the visitors a 17-9 lead before the Trojans led by Miles answered with a 7-2 outburst to cut 19-16 with 7:25 to play.

Three straight triples from Jones, Tipler and Kevin Williamson sparked a 9-4 CCU run that gave the Chants a 28-20 lead with 2:57 to play.

Over the next 76 seconds, Troy led by five points from Stampley and a Zay Williams layup cut the CCU lead to just 28-27 with 1:41 to play. A 7-0 run from Chants gave the visitors a 35-27
lead with 14 seconds to play.

On Troy's final possession of the half, Miles nailed a triple to cut the CCU lead to just 35-30 heading into the break.

As they had in the previous three matchups, Coastal opened the second half strong, using a 10-3 run to take a 45-33 lead with 18:14 to play.

Like they did the entire afternoon, the Trojans slowly clawed their way back into the game using a 16-4 burst over the next 4:50 to tie the contest at 49 with 13:24 to play. The crucial play in the run was a Waters three that powered the Trojans to 11 of the next 13 points.

With the game in the balance, it was Coastal's turn to make a mini run, as the Chants led by Mostafa and Tipler scored seven of the next eight to take a 57-50 lead with 10:30 to play.

A pair of free throws from Dez Williams combined with a Zay Williams layup cut the CCU lead to just 57-54, but Coastal scored six of the next eight to take a seven-point (63-56) lead with 7:42 to play.

Over the next five minutes, the Trojans and Chants split the next 18 points, as Coastal enjoyed a 70-63 advantage with 3:58 to play.

After neither side was able to score over the next 90 seconds, Zay Williams nailed a floater and was fouled with 2:26 to play. The forward missed the and-one free throw attempt, and the Chants after a timeout raced down the floor and hit another triple to take a 73-65 lead with 1:59 to play.

A missed layup from the Trojans combined with another second-chance layup gave CCU a 75-65 lead.

Powered by some timely missed free throws from Coastal, Troy was able to score six of the next seven to cut the CCU lead to just five with 23 seconds to play.

On the ensuing CCU possession, Jones missed an and-one free throw and the Trojans raced down the floor, but a pair of triples just rimmed out, allowing the Chants to hold on for a 76-71 victory.

Troy returns to action on Friday night for the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. In that contest, the Trojans will face UT Arlington who clinched the third-seed in the west division with a weekend sweep over Arkansas State. Tip-off from the Pensacola Bay Center is set for 8 PM.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• With his 24-point performance, Stampley has now scored 184 points in his last 11 games.
• Stampley recorded his fourth game with at least 20 points this season.
• The forward recorded his 15th game with at least 10 points and his 20th-career game with at least 10 points.
• Miles' 19 points are the third most that he's scored in a game this season. Miles recorded his sixth game with at least 10 points.
• In addition to Waters and Stampley, the Trojans also honored senior head manager Jonah Thomas.
• Troy turned the ball over just six times today. The Trojans recorded 17 assists.
• Waters was a team-best plus-four.
• Troy made just nine-of-36 (25 percent) from distance today.
• For the second night in a row the Trojans were outrebounded. Troy is 0-9 this season when getting outrebounded.
• Troy turned the 13 CCU turnovers into 11 points. Troy outscored CCU 11-1 in points off turnovers.

HEAD COACH SCOTT CROSS:
"Well our guys played extremely well today and we played really good defense for the most part. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game, but the offensive rebounds down the stretch really prevented us from completing the comeback. But I'm proud of our guys. Our half-court defense was really good and we did a good job of taking care of the basketball. Having 17 assists and just six turnovers is probably about the best job that we've done of taking care of the ball all year. We just couldn't shoot the ball from the three well enough tonight. They hit some tough shots and we missed open shots which is part of the game. The things that we could control we controlled tonight. As a coach that's all you can ask for."