Trojans Sweep ULM with Overtime Thriller

Wednesday, February 22

Monroe, La.

6:30 p.m.

Troy University

18-12,10-7Sun Belt

ULM

11-19,7-10Sun Belt

OT 1

Troy

ULM

2/22/2023 9:57:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

MONROE, La. – Outscoring ULM 15-11 in overtime, Troy men's basketball finishes its road schedule with an 82-78 victory in the Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Wednesday night.

Winners of five of their last six, the Trojans (18-12, 10-7 SBC) remain tied for fifth in the Sun Belt standings with Old Dominion, now one game back from a bye in the first two rounds with a loss by James Madison. The Warhawks (11-19, 7-10 SBC) fall for the sixth straight game but remain 10^th after Texas State lost tonight to South Alabama.

Zay Williams produced his second double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Three other Trojans, Aamer Muhammad (14), Nelson Phillips (13) and Christyon Eugene (17), netted double digits. Also, freshman Jackson Fields lifted the Trojans defensively with a career-high three blocks.

Tyreke Locure couldn't be stopped for the Warhawks, ending the night with 33 points and eight rebounds. Locure was lethal from all levels, shooting 7-of-8 from deep and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Off the bench, Savion Gallion scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

Extra Time
Troy held an eight-point advantage, 64-56, with 3:45 left when Eugene hit the jumper inside the paint. From the 16:58 mark, ULM pushed back after Thomas Howell grabbed the block by Fields and converted the second chance lay-in, 64-58.

Neither side could convert until Locure locked in with back-to-back triples to tie the ballgame with 1:31 left, 64-64. Phillips tried putting the game out of reach with a made jumper and two free throw attempts. But, after missing the second, Troy held a three-point lead, 67-64, with 0:46 on the clock. That left plenty of time for Locure to take the pass from Victor Bafutto and tie the ballgame from deep with 0:10 left, 67-67. Two misses by Troy in the remaining seconds sent it to overtime.

A scoreless overtime ended with 3:41 left when Muhammad broke through on the fastbreak, taking the pass from Phillips at the wing and throwing up the deep shot, 70-67.

Locure matched with a driving lay-in, but two free throws by Williams and a Phillips driving layup pushed Troy's lead to five, 74-69, with 2:38 remaining.

Two free throws by Locure were met with a ferocious putback slam by Phillips that proved to be the dagger as it opened a 6-0 run that lasted until there was 0:44 left, 80-71.

The final 0:44 saw Troy coast to victory, despite going 2-of-4 from the line, to sweep the Warhawks, 82-78.

Battle of Runs
Williams pushed Troy back into the lead, 17-16, on a fastbreak dunk with 11:08 left in the first.

The dunk awoke the Warhawks as they jumped out onto a 12-0 run that included three consecutive 3-point buckets from Locure, Gallion and Langston Powell, 26-18 – 9:01 on the clock.

The run ended on an and-one conversion from Powell with 8:17 left. A shot clock violation from Troy led to Gallion feeding Powell in the paint, hitting the shot while drawing the foul on Fields, 29-18.

Eugene ended the Warhawk run, converting from deep on his own. Gallion responded after Phillips committed the offensive foul, hitting the stepback, 31-21, with 6:45 left.

Troy found life with Williams as he intercepted the pass from Devon Hancock and fed it to Muhammad before he gave it back to Williams for the jumper. The bucket jumpstarted a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to three, 31-28, on a triple from Kieffer Punter at the 15:08 mark.

Head Coach Scott Cross
"It's so even from top to bottom. We knew it was going to be tough. They didn't play their best against South, so you knew with them being back home that they were going to come out swinging. We didn't come out with the right defensive mentality in the first half, but I hopped on them during halftime. Aamer and Christian really turned the game around defensively. We call Turner "Big 30" because he gives us such a big lift on the defense. Until late in the second half, we were holding them to 18 percent from the field. Our guys pulled it out in overtime. This was big for the program because we lost one similar to this earlier against James Madison. So, for our guys to pull it out on the road is big, and I'm appreciative of them for that. These guys made big plays at the end."

Monroe Notables
• The near-all-senior starting lineup was the sixth different lineup Cross rolled out. When introducing a new starting five, Troy is 2-3.
• Williams became the first Trojan in double-figures in the first half, recording 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting for his 21^st double-digit performance in 2022-23 – 67 in his five-year career.
• Williams recorded 12 rebounds in the win. The senior sits 26 rebounds away from Jordan Vernado as the Troy Division-I all-time leading rebounder.
• Troy was down 41-32 through the first 20 minutes, improving on its record when trailing at half to 5-8, 4-6 SBC – have won three of their last four when trailing.
• Defensively, Troy stepped it up in the second half, turning ULM's 48.3 percent from the first 20 minutes to 33.3 percent in the second.
• Fastbreak points proved to be Troy's advantage, outscoring ULM 16-5 on fastbreak points.

Final Home Game
Senior day awaits the Trojans on Friday night in Trojan Arena when they face Coastal Carolina at 6:30 p.m.