Troy men win 10th straight

TROY — A tired Brandon Hazzard downed two 12-ounce bottles of water before Troy head coach Don Maestri had finished his opening comments in the postgame press conference.

It was much the same for Hazzard as it has been all year — another career high in a fantastic offensive performance.

It was much the same for Troy as it has been in the last two months — another win.

The Trojans won their 10th straight, downing Western Kentucky 87-82 to move a half-game ahead of WKU for first place in the Sun Belt East Division.

Hazzard, who battled a right Achilles strain, scored 35 on 10-of-14 shooting, 6-of-8 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free throw line.

He missed the last seven minutes of the first half with foul trouble. He’s now averaging 19.3 points per game in conference games.

“That’s one of the best shooting performances I’ve seen in this gym in a long time,” Maestri said. “If you’re hitting buckets when you’re up 20, it’s different. When you’re down three or up two, those are tough baskets to make.”

Hazzard’s most impressive three came at the 4:35 mark, when he made his sixth in the face of WKU’s Orlando Mendez-Valdez to put the Trojans up 74-70. But it was a driving dunk from teammate Richard Delk that got the fans going and perhaps iced the game.

With 1:40 left and the shot clock winding down, the 6-foot-4 junior drove the lane, expecting WKU shot blocker Jeremy Evans to be in his way. No one stepped forward, and Delk brought down the house.

“I was thinking attack the rim,” Delk said. “Evans (four blocks) had blocked my shot a couple of times but my teammates told me to go at him. The lane opened up, I saw the open shot and dunked it.”

WKU (17-8, 11-3 SBC) got some late threes from Mendez-Valdez and Steffphon Pettigrew to cut the lead to 85-82 with six seconds left, but Hazzard then hit two free throws left to seal it.

WKU head coach Ken McDonald had his team practicing specifically for Troy’s offensive style since Tuesday. With Troy (17-10, 12-3) winning a hard-fought game over Middle Tennessee on Thursday and WKU off, it looked like the Hilltoppers would have the advantage.

“We knew we would have to defend,” McDonald said. “We knew we would have to spend more energy on defense than they did on offense and that’s what we didn’t do.”

Five players scored in double figures for WKU, lead by 20 from Mendez-Valdez and A.J. Slaughter, but the Hilltoppers were outscored 25-0 in bench points.

“You’re not going to win a lot of games like that,” McDonald said. “It meant our starters were playing high 30-minutes. The energy you have to expend to guard a team where every single guy can go 1-on-1 and every single guy can get on the perimeter makes it tough.”

Troy led 35-34 at the half, but WKU came out on fire in the second half. Threes from Sergio Kerusch, Mendez-Valdez and Pettigrew gave the Hilltoppers a 43-37 lead. Mendez-Valdez hit five straight threes in the half and the Hilltoppers led 59-52 at the 11-minute mark.

But Troy bounced back, getting a rebounded bucket from Delk, a three from Kenny Ware and a bucket down low to tie it from Delk. Hazzard hit a pair of free throws at the 6-minute mark to put Troy up for good.

“We didn’t fold,” Maestri said. “The courageousness of our team showed. They had guys on the floor who were in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament last year and they beat Louisville earlier this year. We’re not talking about the Sisters of the Poor here.”

Ware scored 18 off the bench and Delk added 14 for Troy. Kerusch and Jeremy Evans each scored 15 and Pettigrew scored 12.

The Trojans avenged a 99-76 loss at WKU Jan. 1. They play at Florida International Thursday.