Troy University Athletics
Friday, February 5
Troy, Ala.
6 p.m.
Troy University
10-9,4-5Sun Belt
68
vs
56
Georgia Southern
11-9,5-6Sun Belt
1
2
F
Ga. Southern
20
36
56
Troy
27
41
68
Career-Best Night From Miles, Clutch Performance from Leftridge, Push Troy Past Georgia Southern
2/5/2021 10:17:00 PM | Basketball (M)
TROY, Ala. – Behind three key performances from freshman Duke Miles, sophomore Jakevan Leftridge and senior Nick Stampley, the Troy men's basketball program won its fourth straight game overall downing Georgia Southern 68-56 Friday night at Trojan Arena.
On a night where Troy's duo of Kam Woods and Zay Williams were held to just nine points after erupting for three 20-point games in the two matchups back in Statesboro, it was the trio of Miles, Leftridge and Stampley that proved to be the difference for the Trojans (10-9, 4-5 Sun Belt) who pulled above .500 for the first time since Jan. 2.
Just a freshman, Miles turned in his best performance of the season, scoring a career-best 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The Montgomery native nailed his final six attempts from the line and contributed five rebounds and eight assists. The eight assists were a career-best.
Not to be outdone was Leftridge, who played 21 crucial minutes, contributing nine massive points (all in the second half) and three rebounds including a momentous corner-pocket triple with 6:30 to play that put the Trojans up 10.
The third member of the trio, Stampley, contributed 20 points for the second time in four games. Stampley's 20 points combined with the 11 rebounds he grabbed propelled the Floridian to his team-leading fifth double-double of season. The senior nailed all six of his free throw attempts, and has now made 20-24 (83 percent) from the line in conference play.
Trailing 7-2 after a slow start, the Trojans led by Miles and Stampley scored 10 of the next 12 to take a 12-9 lead with 12:49 to play. The key play of the 10-2 run was an and-one from Stampley that gave the Trojans their first lead at 10-9.
The lead ballooned to eight three minutes later, when a three-pointer from Stampley and an electric fast break layup from Miles sent the Trojans on another 7-0 run that gave the home team a 21-13 lead with 9:35 to play.
Down the final nine minutes of the opening period, the Eagles (11-9, 5-6 Sun Belt) were twice able to cut the Troy lead to just five, and to four once, but the Trojans found an answer each time to take a 27-20 lead into the break.
After halftime, Georgia Southern used back-to-back triples from Gedi Juozapaitis and Eric Boone sandwiched between a Stampley jumper to cut the Troy lead to just three with 18:55 to play in ther period.
Georgia Southern shook off a Miles layup and used a pair of free throws and a stop to regain possession down three, but a missed 3-pointer from Boone was scooped up by Zay Williams and pitched ahead to Miles. The freshman then threaded a perfect pass to a cutting Khalyl Waters for a layup.
Following another Eagles Triple that rimmed out, Waters again in the fast break, nailed a triple to increase the Troy lead to 36-28 with 16:25 to play.
The run exploded to 12-0 minutes later, when a triple by Stampley and back-to-back layups from Miles and Desmond Williams gave Troy a 43-28 advantage with 13:37 to play.
Led by Zack and Cam Bryant, the Eagles scored 10 of the next 12 to cut the Troy lead to just 45-38 with 9:09 to play.
Then Leftridge made arguably the two most important shots of the night for the Trojans. The sophomore nailed a circus left-handed floater in the lane with 8:41 left to play, and answered a pair of Zack Bryant free throws with the massive corner triple with 6:30 to play that increased the Trojan advantage back to 50-40.
A layup by Boone cut the Trojan lead to eight with 6:02 to play, before a triple from Stampley quickly gave the Trojans a 53-42 lead with 5:34 to play.
The Trojans forced back-to-back stops, and used a free throw from Dez Williams to take a 54-42 with 4:19 to play, before one last layup from Boone cut the Trojans lead to 54-44 with 3:39 to play.
Troy answered with a pair of free-throws from Leftridge to take a 12-point lead with 3:34 to play.
Georgia Southern hit three straight triples on three straight possessions to cut the Troy lead to 60-53 with 2:23 to play, but Miles and the Trojans hit their nine free throws to hold on for the 68-56 victory.
With the win, the Trojans pulled ahead of idle Georgia State and into a tie for fourth place with South Alabama who dropped first-place Coastal Carolina. Both the Trojans and Jags are just one-half game behind the Eagles for third place in the Sun Belt Eastern division. The loss pulls Coastal into a tie at 6-4 with App State who was also idle due to COVID-19 concerns within the Panthers program.
Troy will look for the weekend sweep tomorrow afternoon against the Eagles. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. from Trojan Arena.
HEAD COACH SCOTT CROSS:
"This was one of our better defensive performances of the year. The guys really stepped us. Nick is always going to be really good defensively, but Jakevan was awesome tonight. The way he was getting deflections, rotating and getting steals really gave us a boost. I thought Dez Williams had one of the best individual defensive performances on Zack Bryant tonight. Zack Bryant torched us twice down in Statesboro and once here when he was at UAB, and Dez did a phenomenal job of making everything difficult for him. And then Zay did a great job on their big guy who can really shoot. He didn't give them any open looks. It was all-around a great team performance for us."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Miles and Leftridge both missed the two games in Statesboro. Stampley, missed the final 40 minutes of the opening game and the entire loss on Saturday.
• Troy moved to within one game in the loss column from Coastal Carolina and App State.
• The Trojans have won four straight games overall for the first time under HC Scott Cross. Troy's last four-game winning streak was Dec. 12-29, 2018.
• Troy has won three straight Sun Belt games for the first time since the 2017-18 season when Troy won four straight against South Alabama, Arkansas State, Little Rock and Coastal Carolina.
• The Trojans snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Eagles that dated back to the 2016-17 season.
• Troy's last win before tonight was the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Quarterfinals when they trojans dropped Ga Southern 90-70.
• The Trojans have now led at the half in seven of nine Sun Belt games and six straight overall.
• Troy improves to 9-2 when leading at the half this season.
• The Trojans with tonight's victory have surpassed last season's win total (9) in 12 fewer games.
• Troy needs just one more SBC win to equal its SBC win total from a season ago.
• Woods' two-point output ties his career-low. The freshman has now scored in all 19 games he's played in and is still averaging 11.6 points a game.
• With his 20-point performance tonight, Stampley is now averaging a team-best 11.8 points a game.
• Dez Williams was a team-best +25 tonight and held Zack Bryant to just 1-for-8 shooting and six points. Bryant was a team-worst -21 in 31 minutes.
• Troy improves to 6-0 this season when holding teams under 60 points and to 7-2 when holding teams below 70.
• The Trojans are now a perfect 7-0 at Trojan Arena.
On a night where Troy's duo of Kam Woods and Zay Williams were held to just nine points after erupting for three 20-point games in the two matchups back in Statesboro, it was the trio of Miles, Leftridge and Stampley that proved to be the difference for the Trojans (10-9, 4-5 Sun Belt) who pulled above .500 for the first time since Jan. 2.
Just a freshman, Miles turned in his best performance of the season, scoring a career-best 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The Montgomery native nailed his final six attempts from the line and contributed five rebounds and eight assists. The eight assists were a career-best.
Not to be outdone was Leftridge, who played 21 crucial minutes, contributing nine massive points (all in the second half) and three rebounds including a momentous corner-pocket triple with 6:30 to play that put the Trojans up 10.
The third member of the trio, Stampley, contributed 20 points for the second time in four games. Stampley's 20 points combined with the 11 rebounds he grabbed propelled the Floridian to his team-leading fifth double-double of season. The senior nailed all six of his free throw attempts, and has now made 20-24 (83 percent) from the line in conference play.
Trailing 7-2 after a slow start, the Trojans led by Miles and Stampley scored 10 of the next 12 to take a 12-9 lead with 12:49 to play. The key play of the 10-2 run was an and-one from Stampley that gave the Trojans their first lead at 10-9.
The lead ballooned to eight three minutes later, when a three-pointer from Stampley and an electric fast break layup from Miles sent the Trojans on another 7-0 run that gave the home team a 21-13 lead with 9:35 to play.
Down the final nine minutes of the opening period, the Eagles (11-9, 5-6 Sun Belt) were twice able to cut the Troy lead to just five, and to four once, but the Trojans found an answer each time to take a 27-20 lead into the break.
After halftime, Georgia Southern used back-to-back triples from Gedi Juozapaitis and Eric Boone sandwiched between a Stampley jumper to cut the Troy lead to just three with 18:55 to play in ther period.
Georgia Southern shook off a Miles layup and used a pair of free throws and a stop to regain possession down three, but a missed 3-pointer from Boone was scooped up by Zay Williams and pitched ahead to Miles. The freshman then threaded a perfect pass to a cutting Khalyl Waters for a layup.
Following another Eagles Triple that rimmed out, Waters again in the fast break, nailed a triple to increase the Troy lead to 36-28 with 16:25 to play.
The run exploded to 12-0 minutes later, when a triple by Stampley and back-to-back layups from Miles and Desmond Williams gave Troy a 43-28 advantage with 13:37 to play.
Led by Zack and Cam Bryant, the Eagles scored 10 of the next 12 to cut the Troy lead to just 45-38 with 9:09 to play.
Then Leftridge made arguably the two most important shots of the night for the Trojans. The sophomore nailed a circus left-handed floater in the lane with 8:41 left to play, and answered a pair of Zack Bryant free throws with the massive corner triple with 6:30 to play that increased the Trojan advantage back to 50-40.
A layup by Boone cut the Trojan lead to eight with 6:02 to play, before a triple from Stampley quickly gave the Trojans a 53-42 lead with 5:34 to play.
The Trojans forced back-to-back stops, and used a free throw from Dez Williams to take a 54-42 with 4:19 to play, before one last layup from Boone cut the Trojans lead to 54-44 with 3:39 to play.
Troy answered with a pair of free-throws from Leftridge to take a 12-point lead with 3:34 to play.
Georgia Southern hit three straight triples on three straight possessions to cut the Troy lead to 60-53 with 2:23 to play, but Miles and the Trojans hit their nine free throws to hold on for the 68-56 victory.
With the win, the Trojans pulled ahead of idle Georgia State and into a tie for fourth place with South Alabama who dropped first-place Coastal Carolina. Both the Trojans and Jags are just one-half game behind the Eagles for third place in the Sun Belt Eastern division. The loss pulls Coastal into a tie at 6-4 with App State who was also idle due to COVID-19 concerns within the Panthers program.
Troy will look for the weekend sweep tomorrow afternoon against the Eagles. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. from Trojan Arena.
HEAD COACH SCOTT CROSS:
"This was one of our better defensive performances of the year. The guys really stepped us. Nick is always going to be really good defensively, but Jakevan was awesome tonight. The way he was getting deflections, rotating and getting steals really gave us a boost. I thought Dez Williams had one of the best individual defensive performances on Zack Bryant tonight. Zack Bryant torched us twice down in Statesboro and once here when he was at UAB, and Dez did a phenomenal job of making everything difficult for him. And then Zay did a great job on their big guy who can really shoot. He didn't give them any open looks. It was all-around a great team performance for us."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Miles and Leftridge both missed the two games in Statesboro. Stampley, missed the final 40 minutes of the opening game and the entire loss on Saturday.
• Troy moved to within one game in the loss column from Coastal Carolina and App State.
• The Trojans have won four straight games overall for the first time under HC Scott Cross. Troy's last four-game winning streak was Dec. 12-29, 2018.
• Troy has won three straight Sun Belt games for the first time since the 2017-18 season when Troy won four straight against South Alabama, Arkansas State, Little Rock and Coastal Carolina.
• The Trojans snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Eagles that dated back to the 2016-17 season.
• Troy's last win before tonight was the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Quarterfinals when they trojans dropped Ga Southern 90-70.
• The Trojans have now led at the half in seven of nine Sun Belt games and six straight overall.
• Troy improves to 9-2 when leading at the half this season.
• The Trojans with tonight's victory have surpassed last season's win total (9) in 12 fewer games.
• Troy needs just one more SBC win to equal its SBC win total from a season ago.
• Woods' two-point output ties his career-low. The freshman has now scored in all 19 games he's played in and is still averaging 11.6 points a game.
• With his 20-point performance tonight, Stampley is now averaging a team-best 11.8 points a game.
• Dez Williams was a team-best +25 tonight and held Zack Bryant to just 1-for-8 shooting and six points. Bryant was a team-worst -21 in 31 minutes.
• Troy improves to 6-0 this season when holding teams under 60 points and to 7-2 when holding teams below 70.
• The Trojans are now a perfect 7-0 at Trojan Arena.
Team Stats
GS
TROY
FG%
.333
.421
3FG%
.409
.250
FT%
.688
.750
RB
34
41
TO
19
14
STL
8
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
20
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
5
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Basketball (M)G
/ Basketball (M)F
/ Basketball (M)
F
/ Basketball (M)
G
/ Basketball (M)F
/ Basketball (M)
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