Troy University Athletics
Troy University
5-4,0-0Sun Belt
Saint Francis
0-6,0-0NEC
Dowd Eclipses 500 Career Rebounds; Trojans Use Second-Half Surge to Top Saint Francis
11/26/2025 2:31:00 PM | Basketball (M)
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Troy men's basketball (5-4) used a 15-point second-half advantage to defeat Saint Francis inside Alico Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
After falling behind in the first half, the Trojans shot 53.6 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes behind 11 points from Cobi Campbell to take the consolation game of the Royal Palm Division at Coconut Hoops.
At the 14:09 mark of the second half, Thomas Dowd picked up his seventh rebound of the day, and 500th of his career. Dowd is just the sixth Troy player in the school's Division I era to record 500 career rebounds, which Dowd did in the second-least number of games.
Saint Francis (0-6) was paced by Skylar Weeks, who finished with 21 points and nine rebounds.
Saint Francis jumped out to an early 10-5 lead behind two threes from Victor Payne. Payne finished the first half with a game-high 10 points.
The Red Flash continued to put the Trojans in a hole early, leading by eight at the under-12 media timeout and as much as nine with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half.
The shooting woes continued for Troy, which shot just .231 (3-13) from three-point range in the first half after finishing Monday's game against Toledo with a .179 (5-28) clip from behind the arc.
Troy would chip away at the Saint Francis lead, using a five-point scoring run at the end of the first half for a 33-28 Red Flash lead after 20 minutes.
Dowd finished the first half with 11 points and four rebounds.
The second half opened with Saint Francis scoring five-straight, taking a 10-point lead, its largest lead of the game.
Troy would then go on its own run, ultimately using a 9-2 advantage to take the lead at 43-42.
The two teams jostled for the lead over next few minutes, as the Red Flash retook the lead on two separate occasions.
That would be all, however, as Troy scored eight of nine after the score was tied at 51 to take control of the game with just under seven minutes remaining in the game.
Saint Francis trimmed the Troy lead to just two points soon thereafter, but a Cobi Campbell three and four points from Theo Seng iced the game for the Trojans, who would go on to win game, 74-64.
Quotable – Head Coach Scott Cross
"I thought we made [Saint Francis] take some tough shots and they hit them. Credit to them, we knew they were going to come out and play hard. Our guys were really locked in defensively in the second half, and that was a positive sign. [Jerrell Bellamy] was phenomenal, he had some big plays offensively, but I think his defense really gave us a lift."
Notables
- Thomas Dowd's 500th career rebound came in the second half, his seventh of the game. Dowd is the second-fastest Trojan in Troy's Division I era (1993-present) behind Jordon Varnado. Dowd accomplished the feat in 74 games, while Varnado eclipsed the 500-mark in his 71st career game in 2017.
- Troy trailed by five points at halftime. The comeback win marked the first time Troy has won a game this season after heading to the locker room trailing. The Trojans were previously 0-2 in that instance.
- Troy made a combined 10 threes (10-51) across the two games at Coconut Hoops (Toledo, Saint Francis). The 10 threes are the least in a two-game stretch for the Trojans since they made a combined six against Houston and Middle Georgia State last December.
- Cobi Campbell set a career-high in steals (4).
- Troy is now 1-0 all-time against Saint Francis.
Up Next
Troy will return home to take on West Georgia next Monday (Dec. 1) inside Trojan Arena. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m., with the game streaming on ESPN+.
