Troy Hoops opens 2023-2024 season

Published 2:26 pm Monday, November 6, 2023

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The Troy Trojans (1-0) men’s basketball team tipped off the 2023-2024 season with a resounding 92-47 win over the Fort Lauderdale Eagles (0-3) on Monday.

Troy trailed just once, early in the first half, and never looked back after that. The Trojans held Fort Lauderdale to just 31.4 percent shooting and won the rebound battle 46-29, while forcing 20 turnovers and turning the ball over just 12 times.

“I thought it was solid. I thought there was some good things for a first game,” Troy Coach Scott Cross said. “I knew we would be a little bit tight offensively and it took us awhile to get into the flow but I think we were able to create a little offense with our defense in the second half.”

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While Troy led 38-18 at halftime, the Trojans outscored the Eagles 54-29 in the second half. Transfer Tayton Conerway led Troy in his Trojan debut with 15 points and four steals. Christyon Eugene also added 11 points, five rebounds and six assists.

“(Conerway) was really good in the first half. Him and (Eugene) were the two guys in the first half that had it going,” Cross said. “In the second half, we had some other guys that were able to get going. I thought we did a great job rebounding and holding them to a low percentage (shooting). Any time you have more assists than turnovers is a positive sign.”

Conerway was happy with his first time playing as a Trojan.

“I feel like it was a great team win,” Conerway said. “I liked the way we shared the ball a lot. That was something we harped on and preached about coming in. You have to trust your teammates to make the play and you don’t have to just to try and go for the home run every time. It’s good to hit a single or double play every now and then.”

Freshman Myles Rigsby had a big college debut with 11 points, four rebounds and one steal. He and his brother, Marcus Rigsby Jr., also wowed Trojan Arena with a pair of alley-oops in their Troy debuts.

“It was a great feeling,” Rigsby said of the alley oops he and his brother shared in the game. “Those weren’t planned or anything. In the moment he was able to go up and get one and I was able to get me one, too. It was a great feeling, for sure.”

Aamer Muhammad chipped in with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Dothan freshman Thomas Dowd tallied 11 points and nine rebounds with a block and a steal.

Things will heat up for Troy on Wednesday, Nov. 8, as the Trojans hit the road to face Ohio in the first game of the MAC-SBC Challenge at 6 p.m.