The Troy Trojans (20-10, 13-5) men’s basketball team defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (10-21, 5-13) by a score of 70-58 on Feb. 28 to capture a share of the Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Championship.

The win gave the Trojans a share of the conference crown along with South Alabama, Arkansas State State and James Madison, the first time Troy has won a piece of a regular season championship since 2010. It also marks head coach Scott Cross’ 100th victory as Troy head coach, becoming just the third coach in Troy history to accomplish that feat.

It also secured Troy it’s 20th win of the season, marking the fourth consecutive season that Troy has reached at least 20 wins, which is the first time the Trojans have reached that milestone since the legendary Don Maestri led Troy to four straight 20+ win seasons between 1989 and 1993. It’s the first time Troy has done that in the Division I era.

Southern Miss took a two-point lead early in the game but held on to that lead for just 19 seconds. The Trojans then proceeded to lead for nearly 38 minutes of the contest, leading by as many as 16 points in the second half.

Troy won the rebound battle 46-42 and outscored USM in the paint 26-20 and 20-13 in second chance points. The big difference, however, was in the turnover department. Troy forced 16 turnovers and scored 16 points off turnovers, compared to the Trojans turning the ball over 10 times and Southern Miss turning those turnovers into just four points.

Myles Rigsby led the way for Troy with 25 points, five rebounds and two assists, while Tayton Conerway added 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and five steals. Thomas Dowd chipped in with a double-double, tallying 11 points, 12 rebounds and two steals. Conerway’s five steals gave him 91 steals on the season, a Troy single-season record.

The Sun Belt does not use tiebreakers for the regular season championship in the event of a tie, so Troy, South Alabama, Arkansas State and James Madison all earn a share of the regular season crown. Troy was tied for second place in the conference – in terms of seeding – with James Madison. Due to JMU defeating Troy head-to-head during the season, JMU earns the coveted No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. South Alabama receives the No. 1 seed and Arkansas State takes the No. 4 seed.

Troy will go into Pensacola, Fla., as the No. 3 seed and will receive a bye all the way to the conference quarterfinals on March 8 at 8 p.m. Troy will play the winner of Appalachian State vs. the Game 6 winner. The winner of Troy’s quarterfinal matchup will advance to the semifinals to face James Madison on March 9.