Troy Trojans’ streak snapped
Published 11:40 pm Thursday, February 19, 2009
MIAMI — The Troy Trojans battled back from a 13-point deficit late in the second half, but fell 87-86 to the Golden Panthers of FIU on Thursday night in Sun Belt action at U.S. Century Bank Arena.
The loss ends Troy’s Sun Belt best 10-game winning streak and is the Trojans’ first loss since a Jan. 10 defeat at the hands of Louisiana Lafayette.
Troy (17-11, 12-4 SBC) did all they could do to get back into the game, FIU (11-17, 6-9 SBC) got a desperation three-pointer from the corner by Alex Galindo on a busted play to give them the victory. Galindo scored 17 points for the game.
“That’s the part that is the toughest,” Troy head coach Don Maestri said. “We played great defense on the play, they could not even run the play they called. It was a desperation shot and Galindo just happened to be in the corner to hit it. Sometimes those things happen in basketball. The same things happened to FIU against South Alabama last week.
“I’m really happy with the defense we played late in the game. It really was a phenomenal comeback. We took back the double-digit lead and actually took the lead. We have had so many good things happen, but now we get to get ready to play our next game. It is hard to lose when you have been winning so much.”
The Golden Panthers held three-time reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week Brandon Hazzard to just eight points on 3-of-6 shooting.
FIU led 80-70 with six minutes to go, but Tom Jervis got two in transition and a pair of free throws to cut the lead to six points at 80-74 with five minutes left in the game.
Josh Williams nailed a three to make it 82-77, but Jervis missed a pair at the line and Freddy Asprilla capitalized on the miss by splitting a pair for a six point lead.
Richard Delk got a dunk and Hazzard’s first three-pointer of the game cut the lead to one point at 83-82 with 2:45 on the clock.
Josue Soto split a pair to give FIU a two-point lead at 84-82, but with 1:02 left Mike Vogler tied the game at the line. The Panthers turned it over on the next possession, and Vogler found Jervis down low for two and the lead.
FIU called timeout with 20 seconds left to set up the eventual game-winning play.
Vogler hit a deep trey to cut a first half deficit to four points. FIU was on top 47-41 at the break.
Michael Dominguez tied a career-high with 24 points and six three-pointers to lead FIU. Asprilla scored 16 points with eight rebounds. Hicks added 10 points and four rebounds.
Delk’s 24 points paced the Trojans, while Jervis added 15 points and Vogler 14 points with six assists.
Troy shot 50 percent from the field, but FIU shot 50.8 percent.
Up next for the Trojans is a road game against the Ragin’ Cajuns of ULL Feb. 26. Tip off is set for 7:05 p.m.