Troy men beat Spring Hill, breaks record for Home start
TROY, Ala. — For the First time in Troy’s 27-year Division-I history, the Troy men’s basketball team has started 6-0 at home. The sixth and final victory of that stretch was Tuesday’s 90-73 victory at Trojan Arena over Spring Hill College.
After starting the season with three victories over Central Baptist, Carver College and Samford, the Trojans have downed App State (twice) and Spring Hill in the last five days.
In the victory junior Zay Williams scored 17 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds in just 26 minutes of action, while Nick Stampley also followed up with 17 points. Sophomore Desmond Williams added 15 points and a pair of assists, while Khalyl Waters added nine.
After Troy (9-9) allowed an opening two points from the visiting Badgers (0-1), the Trojans never trailed over the remaining 39 minutes of game action leading by as many as 23 points.
Following that Spring Hill basket, the Trojans responded with 11 of the next 13 to take an 11-4 lead with 15:14 to play.
A triple from Dez and a jumper from Zay Williams increased Troy’s lead to 23-11 with 10:25 to play. Another fast break layup from Dez Williams combined with three free throws from Khalyl Waters increases Troy’s lead to 30-15 with 6:36 to play.
After a 3-pointer from Christian Brandt cut the Troy lead to just 30-18, Troy scored the next six to take a first-half best 36-20 lead.
Spring Hill would respond over the next three minutes using a quick 9-0 run to cut the Trojan advantage to just 36-29 with just 3:48 to play in the period.
Needing a run, the Trojans clamped down on the defensive end, holding Spring Hill scoreless for the rest of the half. The defensive stretch powered an 8-0 run that gave the home team a 44-29 lead at the break.
Out of halftime, Troy continued to pull away from the Badgers, scoring 10 of the first 14 points to open a 54-33 lead with 17:15 to play. A highlight alley-oop from Duke Miles to Zay Williams combined with a layup from Miles, gave the Trojans a game-high 23-point lead with 15:27.
Down the stretch, Troy lead would go no lower than 16, as the Trojans cruised to a 90-73 victory.
Troy returns to action Friday night when Georgia Southern visits Trojan Arena for the opening game of a weekend set. Tip-off from Trojan Arena is set for 6 p.m.
