Trojans Pick Up Win No. 20 Against Troy

LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock (20-2, 10-1 SBC) pulled away for a 72-49 victory over Troy (6-16, 1-10 SBC) Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
The win improves Little Rock to 20-2 on the season, tying it with Xavier for the best record in the nation. The Trojans also sit alone atop the Sun Belt standings with a 10-1 mark in Sun Belt play.
 
The Trojans are now just the third team in Sun Belt Conference history to win 20 of 22 games to start a season.
 
"Troy is a good team. They have a lot of young players and have invested a lot of minutes in those guys," head coach Chris Beard said after the win. "I think our players deserve a lot of credit. Over the course of a 31-game season, you're not always going to have great execution, but you have to find a way to win. You're not always going to have incredible energy. You're going to have to find guys to bring it off the bench, and I think that was the case tonight."
 
Tonight's victory also makes Little Rock 10-0 at home this season and extends the Trojans' win streak at the JSC to 12 games.
 
The Trojans led by six at the break before outscoring Troy 44-27 over the final 20 minutes. Little Rock shot 57.1 percent in the second half while making 5 of 7 3-point shots.
 
Little Rock finished the game shooting 9 of 18 from 3-point range, and has now made at least eight 3-pointers in eight straight games. Led by Hagins (5) and Jermaine Ruttley (5), the Trojans handed out 17 assists on 27 made baskets.
 
The Trojans turned it over just nine times – their 10^th game of the season with fewer than 10 turnovers.
 
Troy narrowed the margin to seven, 34-27, with 15:23 remaining, but two 7-0 runs followed by an 8-0 spurt over the next seven minutes allowed Little Rock to grow its lead to 23 with 8:44 left to play. The Trojans' final spurt included six points from Jalen Jackson. Jackson started the run with a finish at the rim. Roger Woods scored the next basket before Jackson hit two straight jumpers to put the Trojans up 56-33.
 
Marcus Johnson Jr. led Little Rock with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including a 4-of-6 performance from 3-point range. Hagins added 15 points, five assists and two steals while Jackson scored 13 points, all in the second half. Mareik Isom made all three of his shots for eight points.
 
Little Rock led 28-22 at halftime after leading by as many as 12. The Trojans held Troy to 10-of-26 shooting over the first 20 minutes, but surrendered a 6-0 run to the visiting team over the final 2:47 of the half.
 
Troy was led by John Walton III's 16 points. Wesley Person added 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
 
Troy finished the game shooting 38.3 percent from the floor.
 
Little Rock stays home to host South Alabama on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.