Troy Powers Past UL Lafayette 100-88

Saturday, February 11

Lafayette, La.

7:15 PM

Troy University

13-12, 5-6SBC

100

UL Lafayette

14-11, 4-8SBC

Troy

100

Louisiana

2/11/2017 10:56:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score

By: Russ Schaffer

Box Score

LAFAYETTE, Louisiana – In a night filled with energy, Troy kept the foot on the gas and pushed past UL Lafayette for a 100-88 win in the Cajundome on Saturday night.

The win marked the first victory for the Trojans (13-12, 5-6) against the Ragin' Cajuns (14-11, 4-8) since Feb. 2, 2013 and the first win in the Cajundome since Feb. 26, 2009.

It was a record-setting night for Jordan Varnado, who had a career-high 31 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and 15-18 shooting from the free-throw line.

Those 18 free throws highlighted an evening filled with drama over the officiating. A jumper by Jeremy Hollimon with five seconds left in the first half gave Troy a 42-39 lead at the break.

The Ragin' Cajuns responded right back to tie it up at 44 at the 17:35 mark of the second half. From there, the two squads traded baskets as the lead didn't get higher than two for either side until a layup by Jeremy Hollimon gave Troy a 60-56 lead with 12:14 to play.

That's around when things began to get testy as UL Lafayette head coach Bob Marlin got fired up after a foul on the Ragin' Cajuns before taking a timeout with 10:21 left. Just two seconds out of the break, Marlin got hit with two technical fouls and was subsequently ejected from the game.

Following the ejection, the Trojans rattled off a 16-6 run to get the lead up to 83-64 with 5:01 on the clock. Even with the cushion, the game was certainly far from over as the Ragin' Cajuns—the highest-scoring team in the Sun Belt—started chipping away at the lead.

Led by Jay Wright, who had 26 points and seven 3-pointers, UL Lafayette crawled all the way back until the deficit was just six with 1:10 to play.

Despite the added pressure, the Trojans stayed cool by sinking free throws down the stretch. Jeremy Hollimon, who had 25 points on the night off the bench, hit 10-14 free throws as Troy went 40-50 from the line to put it away.

Quotable
"It all started Monday afternoon when our guys came into practice with the right mindset," head coach Phil Cunningham said. "They practiced hard all week and showed a lot of mental toughness in this game. We talked about how we needed to play better defensively because they score so well and we did that tonight. We got stops when we needed to.

Stat of the Game
While the story of the game was Troy's accuracy from the free throw line, it was the depth that propelled the Trojans to the crucial road win. Troy had a 31-8 advantage in bench points fueled by Hollimon's 25 points. Though Daniel Peace had just four points on the night, he had key defensive plays when the Trojans needed them. Five of the eight bench points by the Ragin' Cajuns came from Roydell Brown.

Turning Point
A layup by Roydell Brown cut Troy's lead to 94-88 with 28 seconds to play. The outcome was suddenly in doubt after the Trojans turned it over on the inbound pass on an offensive foul by Jeremy Hollimon. Brown was then fouled on the ensuing possession to go to the free throw line, but he missed both and Troy was able to finish off the game.

Noteworthy
• The 100 points marked the first time Troy has scored 100 or more in a conference game since scoring 107 against Arkansas State in the Sun Belt tournament on March 3, 2006.

• Jeremy Hollimon's 25 points was just one shy of his career-high of 26 set against ULM on Jan. 21, 2016.

• Troy closed out the victory despite not hitting a single field goal for the last 3:53.

Up Next
The Trojans will have a day off before taking on ULM on Monday. For more information on Troy men's basketball, follow the team on social media at @TroyMensHoops or visit TroyTrojans.com.