Men’s Basketball Falls to Ohio, 88-70

Wednesday, November 8

Athens, Ohio

6 p.m.

Troy University

1-1,0-0Sun Belt

Ohio

1-0,0-0MAC

Troy

Ohio

11/8/2023 10:03:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

ATHENS, Ohio. — After falling behind by double-digits in the first half, Troy battled back in the final 20 minutes, but it wasn't enough as they fell to Ohio, 88-70, on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.

Ohio (1-0) got off to a fast start offensively in the first half and jumped out to a 9-2 lead. The Bobcats' first-half offense was fueled by an 18-0 run — and a nearly six-minute scoreless drought for Troy (1-1). The Trojans entered the break, down 43-28.

Troy had a much better second half and was able to bring the score within six with 5:18 remaining in the game, but Ohio answered back and closed the game out on a 19-7 run, hitting their last eight shots.

Free Points
Part of the reason Troy fell behind in the first half was because of Ohio's ability to draw fouls. The Bobcats shot 15-17 from the free-throw line in the first half. That didn't change much in the second half either, as they shot 12-15 from the line.

Ohio also forced Troy into 17 turnovers and scored 18 points off those. By comparison, Ohio only had seven turnovers, and Troy scored just one point off of them.

Hear From Coach
Head coach Scott Cross gave his thoughts following the game:

"It was a closer game than the score showed, in my opinion. But we didn't do what needed to do down the stretch and they did. Credit to them. We had to gamble a bit to turn the game around and unfortunately, it went the other way on us. It went south. It's going to be a learning experience for this group. We are going to get better as the season progresses."

Game 2 By The Numbers
• Troy shot 39 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from 3-point range.
• The Trojans shot 72 percent from the charity stripe (18-25).
• Christyon Eugene led the Trojans in scoring with 19 points and was 7-16 from the field.
• Tayton Conerway followed his impressive debut on Monday with 13 points while going 4-4 from the field and 4-6 from the free-throw line.
• Troy out-rebounded Ohio 40-32, including grabbing 13 offensive boards. Aamer Muhammad and Eugene each had seven boards.
• Despite giving up 88 points, Troy held the Ohio offense to 45 percent from the field and 28 percent from beyond the arc.
• Ohio was led by AJ Brown with 24 points on 10-15 shooting. Elmore James also added 20 points.
• The Bobcats had four players score in double-digits.

Game 2 Notes
• Troy moves to 0-16 in the Scott Cross era when it allows more than 80 points.
• Ohio's seven turnovers are the fewest forced by a Troy team since they forced four against UT-Arlington on Jan. 1, 2022.
• As part of the MAC-SBC Challenge, Troy will host a to-be-determined MAC opponent on Feb. 10 at Trojan Arena.

Up Next
Troy continues its road trip as it heads to Corvallis, Ore., to take on Oregon State on Friday at 6 p.m. CT in the Gill Coliseum. Fans can listen live on the Troy Sports Radio Network, follow on Troystats.com, and watch on the Pac-12 Network.