South Alabama defeated Troy 78-75 in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to advance to the quarterfinals, beating a Trojans team that had won both regular-season meetings between the schools.
Domonic Tilford led the sixth-seeded Jaguars with 20 points, LaShun Watson scored a career-high 18, and DeAndre Coleman added 17 points despite playing while visibly ill.
Slow Start, Then a Rally
Troy opened the game with two 3-pointers while South Alabama missed its first four shots, and the Trojans led 8-0 just 70 seconds in. Jaguars head coach Ronnie Arrow called a 30-second timeout to regroup.
Troy again led by eight at 16-8 with 14:54 remaining in the first half before South Alabama answered with a 10-1 run over 2:36 to take the lead. The teams traded the lead several times, with the Jaguars unable to go ahead by more than a point, and Troy took a 41-37 advantage into halftime.
Jaguars Take Control
The lead changed hands several more times early in the second half. South Alabama went up by four with 14:37 remaining, but Troy responded, and the Jaguars did not take the lead for good until the 11:31 mark.
South Alabama built its largest lead of the game, eight points, with 3:57 to play. Ronald Douglas made two free throws with 2:13 left, and Coleman made two more with 34 seconds remaining to put the Jaguars ahead 77-73.
A foul by Bryan Sherrer allowed Troy to pull within two with the clock stopped. On the ensuing inbounds play, Coleman was fouled by Troy’s Kenny Ware and made the second of two free throws for a 78-75 lead with 28 seconds left.
Over the final 28 seconds, Troy missed three shots and South Alabama missed four free throws, but the score held.
Box Score Leaders
Tilford shot 7 of 20 from the field, 2 of 8 from 3-point range and 4 of 4 at the free-throw line. Brandon Davis recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Troy’s Brandon Hazzard scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-20 shooting, including 4 of 12 from 3-point range, and made 2 of 4 free throws. Michael Vogler and Richard Delk each scored 12 for the Trojans.
Quarterfinal Matchups
In the quarterfinals, top-seeded Western Kentucky will face No. 4 seed North Texas at 6:30 p.m., followed by sixth-seeded South Alabama against No. 2 seed UALR at 9 p.m. The tournament champion receives the Sun Belt’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
