The Troy men let a nine-point halftime lead slip through their fingers Thursday night and couldn’t keep up with the hot shooting UALR, losing to their Sun Belt foe 73-65 at the Jack Stephens Center.

Chris Bilbo led Troy (7-10, 2-6) with 15 points and seven rebounds, and John Walton III recorded his first double-double of his career with an 11-point, 12-rebound performance.

Troy easily outshot UALR in the first half, sinking 11-of-27 shots from the field. UALR, on the other hand, was woeful, shooting just 9-of-24 before going into halftime trailing Troy 34-25.

After the break, UALR (7-11, 2-6) heated up, opening the second half on a 20-2 run to jet out to a commanding 45-36 lead.

During that run, UALR hit 7-of-8 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 from downtown, while Troy made just 1-of-8 field goals.

Troy was able to sink a few baskets to cut the UALR lead to 55-53, but UALR responded with another scoring spurt, this time a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 65-53.

Troy did their best to wrestle the lead back, as Kelton Ford sunk a late 3-pointer to get Troy within six points of the lead at 71-65, but the deficit was too great for Troy to overcome.

In the game, Musa Abdul-Aleem chipped in off the bench with 14 points and freshman Wesley Person recorded his 14th game of the season in double figures with 10 points on the night.

Josh Hagins led UALR with 22 points as he shot 8-of-12 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

Roger Woods added 19 points for UALR, shooting 6-of-10 on the night while collecting a team-high 10 rebounds.