Trojans MBB 2020-21 Campaign Comes to Close with Loss to CCU

Saturday, March 6

Pensacola, Fla.

7:30 p.m.

Troy University

11-17,4-12Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

16-6,9-5Sun Belt

Troy

Coastal Carolina

Trojans MBB 2020-21 Campaign Comes to Close with Loss to CCU

3/6/2021 11:56:00 PM | Basketball (M)

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Despite cutting a consistent double-figure deficit to just one with 13:46 to play, the Troy men's basketball program fell to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Saturday night at Hartsell Arena on the campus of Pensacola State College.

With the loss, the Trojans were bounced from the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Tournament in the quarterfinals.

Three Troy (11-17) players reached double-figures led by junior Zay Williams who scored 19 points and grabbed 12 boards. Williams turned in an efficient 6-of-8 performance from both the field and the line. Freshman Duke Miles scored another 14 points, while sophomore Jakevan Leftridge scored a career-best 11 points hitting 3-of-6 from behind the arc.

After Miles and the Trojans scored the first four points of the contest, Coastal Carolina used a 20-4 run over a brief six-minute span to take a first-half-best 20-8 lead with 11:51 to play in the period.

The Trojans led by Williams used an 18-13 spurt over the final 10:52 of the half to cut that 12-point Coastal Carolina (17-6) lead to just seven at the break.

Needing a run, the Trojans opened the second period with a jumper from Williams and a triple from senior Nick Stampley to cut the CCU lead to just 33-31 with 18:56 to play.

Coastal Carolina quickly responded with seven of the next nine points to take a 40-33 lead with 15:54 to play. The Trojans led by Williams and Miles, who combined for seven of the next nine cut the Chants lead to just 42-40 with 14:26 to play. The final play of spurt was a potential and-one layup from Miles, who after the media timeout, missed the ensuing free throw.

A pair of Coastal free throws were answered by a corner triple from Leftridge that the CCU advantage to just one with 13:46 to play. Over the next five minutes and 19 seconds of game action, the Chanticleers scored 16 of 18 points that were scored to take a commanding 60-45 advantage with 8:27 to play.

A triple from Stampley briefly gave the Trojans momentum and cut the CCU lead to just 60-48 with 7:23 to play, but CCU used one last 12-6 run to take a 72-54 lead with 3:21 to play in the final period.

Down the waning moments of the season, Troy continued to battle, but Coastal ultimately was able to hold on for an 86-68 victory that advances them to the semifinals of the SBC Tournament tomorrow night against Appalachian State. Junior DeVante' Jones led all scorers with 20, while Gerrick Green added 15 points. Tyrik Dixon and DeAnthony Tipler each added 13 points to round out the four Chants in double-figures.

With the loss, the Trojans' second season under Scott Cross comes to an end. Despite playing three less games overall and two fewer Sun Belt games, the Trojans eclipsed last year's overall win total by two and equaled its 2019-20 Sun Belt win total.

HEAD COACH SCOTT CROSS:
"I felt like our guys played really, really hard. Coastal does such a great job and they're so well-coached. They do a great job of keeping you off balance. Offensively we never really go into a rhythm like we did yesterday. I thought our guys played as hard as they possibly could have. We had our opportunities to win the game in the second half, but once Coastal stretched it back out we put a press into place that we haven't used all that much this year to see if we could cause some steals. Obviously, they made us pay. They're such a good team. DeVante'Jones what can you say about him. He's phenomenal and made some huge plays. They shoot the ball extremely well and hit some big shots. You have to give Coastal credit. I thought we could have controlled our turnovers a bit better. But they won the game instead of us making mistakes to lose it. It's unfortunate but we lost to a very good basketball team tonight."

SENIOR NICK STAMPLEY:
"I thought we played really hard, the ball just didn't bounce our way. They hit some really tough shots and we didn't hit enough shots, but I really feel like we did play hard. And I'm really proud of the effort we displayed. A lot of people didn't expect us to make it the quarters, so I'm glad we could play the way did this weekend and that we fought through the adversity that we did. This group has been through a lot this season but we kept fighting."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• After scoring 20 points and hitting six triples, sophomore Desmond Williams was limited to just three points and 0-for-6 shooting by the Chants defense.
• Troy hit just 9-of-41 from behind the arc, and 6-of-27 in the second period.
• The Trojans turned the ball over 18 times tonight, and shot just 34 percent from the field.
• After scoring 17 last night, senior Khalyl Waters scored just four points.
• Stampley scored just nine points Saturday and grabbed seven rebounds.
• In addition to setting his career-high in points, Leftridge tied his career-high in rebounds and hit a career-best three shots from behind the arc.
• Miles recorded his seventh game this season with at least five assists. The Montgomery native finishes his freshman campaign with a team-best 81 assists.
• Coastal won all five matchups against Troy this season.