Troy University Athletics
Troy University
17-10,10-5Sun Belt
Louisiana
10-18,7-8Sun Belt
Troy Drops Contest to Louisiana
2/20/2025 10:03:00 PM | Basketball (M)
TROY, Ala. – The Troy men's basketball team struggled down the stretch, as it fell to Louisiana 72-69 at Trojan Arena on Thursday night.
Tayton Conerway put together a strong performance of 16 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for his second double-double of the season and of his career. It wasn't enough though, as Kentrell Garnett hit a fade-away three with 16 seconds left to give Louisiana the victory.
Thirteen rebounds is a career-high for Conerway. It's the fourth double-double by a Trojan this season.
The teams got off to a slow start on Thursday, as Louisiana (10-18, 7-8 SBC) took a 7-4 lead into the first media timeout. Troy (17-10, 10-5 SBC) turned it over early and wasn't getting good looks from the field to fall. Despite the slow start on offense, the defense came out with same intensity it showed in Saturday's win over Arkansas State.
Troy started to settle offensively as the half progressed and were able to jump ahead and push its lead to 14 – 38-24 – with 2:11 left in the first half. The Ragin' Cajuns went on a 5-0 run in the final 120 seconds to make it a 38-29 Troy lead at the break.
Conerway had 11 points and nine rebounds at the half. Troy's defense held Louisiana to 33.3 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes while scoring at 42.4 percent rate on the other end of the court.
The second half was not kind to Troy, who was outscored 43-31, and shot just 34.4 percent. The Ragin' Cajuns caught fire to close out the game, shooting 53.8 percent in the second half.
With Troy leading 53-36 with 14:31 left, Louisiana went on a 10-0 run in just over three minutes to cut the Troy lead to seven. The Trojans were able to hold the lead, but the Ragin' Cajuns kept making it closer and with 3:42 left in regulation, Louisiana took a 62-61 lead. The lead was pushed to five with 2:50 left, and it looked like Troy wouldn't have an answer.
Trailing 67-65 with two minutes left, Marcus Rigsby Jr., hit a corner three to put the Trojans ahead. Conerway extended the lead to 69-67 with 47 seconds left and Troy needed just one more defensive stop to put the game away.
Following Garnett's three, Conerway tried to win the game on a jumper but it came up short.
Jackson Fields and Thomas Dowd each had 11 points to go along with Conerway. Mostapha El Moutaouakkil had a game-high 25 points for Louisiana, while Zeke Cook had 15 and Garnett had 14.
Troy won the rebounding battle 43-31 but turned it over 16 times.
Quotable – head coach Scott Cross
"I felt like we self-sabotaged our own success. Going through the motions, that's not the way this game works. If you're not going to be tough and gritty, we're not going to be successful. We we're too cool for school."
Up Next
Troy is back in action on Saturday afternoon for its home finale against Coastal Carolina. Prior to tipoff, Troy will recognize its four seniors in an on-court ceremony.
Notables
• Troy moves to 10-23 all-time against Louisiana. The loss snapped the Trojans' four-game winning streak over the Ragin' Cajuns.
• Tayton Conerway recorded the second double-double of his season with 16 points and 13 rebounds. He was two assists shy of Troy's first triple-double in its D-I era.
• Jackson Fields and Thomas Dowd each had 11 points for Troy.
• Troy moves to 15-4 (8-3 SBC) when leading at halftime this season.
• The Trojans won the rebounding battle 43-31.
• Thursday marked just the second time this season that Troy lost a game when recording 15 or more assists – Arkansas State on Jan. 11.
