Troy basketball earns conference win

By Jon Johnson

Published: December 18, 2008

TROY — Troy basketball coach Don Maestri wasn’t sure how his team would react after falling behind in the first six minutes of the second half.

What transpired put a smile on his face and was a boost of confidence for his team during a 94-87 win over Florida Atlantic in Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday night.

Down 61-58 in the early portions of the second half, Troy went on an 18-2 run — capped by a Mario Telfair dunk — to take back command of a game it led most of the first half.

The Trojans then showed poise down the stretch as Regis Huddleston and Michael Vogler combined to connect on 9-of-10 free throws over the final 1:11 to account for the Trojans’ final points.

Troy had five players reach double figures in scoring, led by Vogler and Travis Lee with 15 points each. Lee scored 12 of his points in the first half as the Trojans led 46-41 at the break.

Brandon Hazzard scored 14 for Troy, while Richard Delk and Huddleston each scored 11.

The Trojans shot 52.5 percent from the field after struggling in recent games.

Troy improves to 4-6 overall, 1-1 in league play, while FAU is 4-6 overall, 0-2 in the Sun Belt.

“Losing this game would have really set our basketball team back,” Maestri said.
Instead, the victory gives the team much needed confidence as it prepares to head into more conference action in the coming weeks.

“One of the things that happened in the second half that I was impressed with was we lost the lead and I didn’t know how we would react,” Maestri said of the Trojans scoring run. “We then outscored them 16-0 over about five minutes.

“Vogler was the key to that because he controlled the show. When his game is on, we’re a much better team because he is the quarterback out there.”

Vogler was 4-of-5 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line, while also dishing out six assists.

Another key during the deciding stretch was 7-foot center Tom Jervis, who scored four points and blocked two shots over a span of a few minutes.
Jervis began his surge after losing a rebound he felt he should have controlled.

“It made me mad and got me going,” Jervis said. “I played pretty sloppy the last game, and coach has been getting on me about rebounding.”

Jervis finished with a team-high seven rebounds.

FAU was led by Paul Graham III with 28 points, while Carlos Monroe and Carderro Nwoji each pumped in 23.

The Owls’ coach, Mike Jarvis, was ejected from the game after picking up his second technical foul with Troy leading 81-71.

FAU had the ball when Jarvis was whistled for a second time when he believed one of his players was fouled and no call was made.

“It was a joke,” the veteran coach said of the second technical. “The only thing I’m proud of is I didn’t curse, or it may have been justified.

“It was poor judgment by the very young official. All I said is the guy had his hand on him.”

Troy built a 79-66 lead with just over eight minutes left on a 3-pointer by Hazzard, and led 85-73 when Delk scored on a drive before FAU cut the lead to 85-81 following a Monroe basket with 1:38 left.

But Vogler and Huddleston did the job down the stretch at the free throw line to give Troy its first conference win.

“The runs they had were all similar in the game in that we didn’t do a good job getting back in transition and did a poor job defending the dribble,” Jarvis said.

Troy plays at UAB on Saturday at 1 p.m. and will return home on Monday night against UNC-Wilmington starting at 7 p.m.