Both the Troy Trojans men’s and women’s basketball teams competed in the MAC-SBC Challenge this weekend with both teams falling in the games.

The men’s team (15-9) lost 69-62 to the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (18-5) on the road on Saturday. Troy fell behind 32-29 going into halftime and couldn’t claw their way back into the game as Miami outscored the Trojans 37-32 in the second half, as well. Miami shot 43.9 percent from the field, while Troy shot 39.3 percent. While Troy turned the ball over 16 times, the Trojans were able to force 18 Miami turnovers. Miami turned Troy’s turnovers into 22 points compared to just 13 points off turnovers for the Trojans, however. Troy narrowly won the rebound battle 36-35 but Miami outscored Troy 16-11 in second chance points. Miami’s bench also outscored Troy’s 35-15. 

“They were just better, and that’s the bottom line,” Troy Coach Scott Cross said. “They hit shots. They are so hard to guard. They just spread you out and move around the pass. They’ve got good players who make great decisions. We tried to speed them up, be aggressive, be tough on the ball but they created a lot of turnovers. We weren’t very good offensively.”

Tayton Conerway led the way for Troy with 20 points, seven rebounds and two steals, while Thomas Dowd tallied 13 points and eight rebounds. Victor Valdes scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, dished four assists and earned three steals. For Miami, Evan Ipsaro scored 15 points and both Brant Byers and Eian Elmer scored 12 points each. Elmer also grabbed eight rebounds. 

Troy will look to rebound as it returns to conference play on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m. against Louisiana on the road. 

The Troy women (15-10) also lost 84-73 at home against the Kent State Golden Flashes (16-8) in the MAC-SBC Challenge at home on Saturday. 

Troy never led in the game and Kent State led by as many as 16 points in the second half. Troy shot just 39.7 percent from the field, compared to Kent State’s 47.9 percent shooting. The Golden Flashes also knocked down 10-of-25 three-point attempts. In a rare occurrence, Troy was defeated on the boards as Kent State out-rebounded the Trojans 44-42 and also outscored Troy 48-32 in the paint. Despite Miami turning the ball over 13 times, compared to the Trojans’ 11, the Golden Flashes still scored 18 points off turnovers to just 15 for Troy. 

“It’s a very disappointing loss in Trojan Arena. We had a great win streak heading into today and were doing great things and improving,” Troy Coach Chanda Rigby said. “But Kent State is a good team. They won the MAC last season and played in the NCAA Tournament. Add in the fact that they returned all their players; I knew it was going to be hard if we got off to a slow start. 

“And we did. We let them outrun us in the first half. We came out with better energy in the second half, but they never gave up that lead. We should never get outrebounded by a team, so we need to get back. We need our attention to return to conference play and focus on the main goal of a league title. We got ULM next, and they are like a sleeping giant. If we wake them up, we need to be ready to respond.”

Fortuna Ngnawo scored a career-high 25 points for the Trojans along with grabbing eight rebounds and earning two steals, while Emani Jenkins added 14 points and Ashley Baez scored 11 points. Shaulana Wagner dished five assists and Brianna Jackson grabbed nine rebounds. Zay Dyer added eight points and eight rebounds. Janae Tyler scored 26 points for Kent States while Jenna Batch scored 20.

The Trojan women will remain home on Feb. 12 for a conference matchup with ULM at 6 p.m.