Troy falls on the road at Arkansas State

Troy couldn’t overcome a league-high 17 triples by Arkansas State Thursday night in the First National Bank Arena as the program falls for just the second time in the last 15 meetings, 91-77.

A second straight loss still keeps the Trojans (13-9, 7-3 SBC) in fourth place in the Sun Belt Conference, while the Red Wolves (13-7, 9-1 SBC) win their ninth straight game to remain one game behind first-place James Madison.

For the fourth straight game, Brianna Jackson ended in double-figures as she went 7-of-7 inside (7-of-10 overall) for a team-high 16 points. She also tied Khila Morris for a team-high eight rebounds and rejected four shots – Morris’ eight rebounds set a career-high. Zay Dyer and Fortuna Ngnawo also ended in double-figures as Troy’s three forwards ended with 40-of-77 points (51.9 percent). Despite the loss, Troy managed to outshoot Arkansas State 44 percent to 40, but 17 triples made the difference.

Six Red Wolves made a shot from deep as Annaliese Griffen and Zyion Shannon went 4-of-9 apiece at the 3-point line to total 29 points. Shaunae Brown and Kennedie Montue followed with three makes, Bella Weary had two, and Mimi McCollister made one. Arkansas State made 17 shots from deep and just 13 inside for a 56.6-43.4 percent split. The Red Wolves also outrebounded Troy on the offensive glass 18-16 and won the turnover battle 19-13 for the 14-point victory.

Dyer pushed Troy’s lead out to eight, 43-35, 0:11 into the second half off a Jackson assist. Brown would respond for Arkansas State with her second triple of the ballgame, 43-38, setting the tone for the second half in what would be the first of 11 makes from deep for ASU in the final 20 minutes.

Briana Peguero followed with a driving layup, 45-38, but again, the Red Wolves responded with a triple from Griffin to cut the margin to four, 45-41, at the 1:13 mark. Jackson and Ashley Baez would combine on back-to-back buckets inside, 49-41, to regain control for the final time.

The Red Wolves responded with a 6-0 run in the paint and from the free throw line to make it a one-possession game, 49-47, with 6:20 remaining in the third. Dyer paused the run briefly with a fastbreak lay-in, 51-47, but the Red Wolves went back behind the arc with five triples and a 5-of-8 showing at the line in the final six minutes. Meanwhile, Troy scored just eight points in the paint and one at the line to enter the fourth quarter down 69-60.

Ngnawo cut the margin to single digits, 71-62, for the final time on a second-chance layup after a lay-in by Wynter Rogers. Troy did all it could from the field in the final 10 minutes, shooting 40 percent. But for every 2-point shot by Troy, the Red Wolves had a triple as they went 4-of-10 from deep and 9-of-18 from the field for the 91-77 victory.

Arkansas State stretched the advantage to eight, 16-8, at the 5:14 mark of the first quarter when Crislyn Rose found Shannon for the triple. The media timeout flipped the momentum as Ngnawo came out of the break with a layup, 16-10.

Emani Jenkins would single-handedly bring Troy within one possession from deep. First, Ngnawo swiped the ball from Rose, and Morris grabbed the offensive rebound. The board allowed Jenkins to remain wide-open from behind the arc, 16-13, with 3:51 remaining. The SBC leader in triples responded as the Red Wolves’ Shannon matched Jenkins, 19-13. However, Jenkins had one more for ASU, 19-16, when Peguero found her for her second straight deep ball at the 7:07 mark.

The rest of the first saw both ends go back and forth, with the Red Wolves outscoring Troy 5-4 in the final three minutes to hold a 24-20 lead through 10. Rogers drew first blood of the second, 26-20, with a layup 0:33 in. But, over the next 4:10, Troy erupted on a 13-0 run that saw points from Dyer (4), Morris (2), Adriana Jones (3) and Baez (3) to hold a 33-26 lead at the 4:43 mark.

Arkansas State cut the margin to three, 33-30, with 3:48 left in the half, answering with a 4-0 run. Ngnawo ended a 2:45 scoreless drought when Morris found her inside for her fourth point of the half, 35-30, before Jones reextended the advantage to seven, 37-30, off a Jenkins assist inside. Shannon responded with a 3-pointer for the Red Wolves, 37-33, but a pair of free throws by Peguero and a layup for Ngnawo saw Troy’s largest lead of the half, 41-33.

“It was a tough night at Arkansas State. We knew they lived behind the 3-point line, but they did a great job hitting tonight. They drove the ball inside and kicked it out, but we couldn’t close out in time. Combine the silly turnovers, and it’s hard to win games. That’s been the story lately. We must get into the film room and see what needs to be fixed. Whether it’s skill-based or personnel-based, we need to figure it out. We go on the road at Southern Miss next. They are a completely different team. But we will play Arkansas State again, so for now, we will push the feelings down and revisit them later.”