Troy defeats Southern Miss to clinch a share of the SBC Regular Season Title

The Troy men’s basketball team clinched the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship on Friday night after defeating Southern Miss 70-58 at the Reed Green Coliseum.

After the win on Friday night, Troy (20-10, 13-5 SBC) got some help from Texas State to clinch its first regular season title since the 2008-09 season. In addition to winning its first championship under Scott Cross, the Trojans are the only Sun Belt team to have have won 20 or more games in each of the last four seasons. The victory also marked the 100th in Cross’ tenure at Troy, which dates back to 2019.

Troy led for over 37 minutes on Friday to pick up the program’s first win in Hattiesburg. Myles Rigsby shined with a career-high 25 points on 7-13 shooting. Thomas Dowd added a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Tayton Conerway also had 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals.

On Conerway’s third steal of the night, he set a new program record for steals in a single season. The previous record of 88 was set by Bobby Dixon in the 2005-06 season. Conerway sits at 91 going into postseason play.

The Trojans and Golden Eagles went back-and-forth for much of the first half, with Troy leading by as much as 10 points. Southern Miss closed the first 20 minutes on a 4-0 run to cut the halftime deficit to six.

Rigsby had 12 of his 25 points in the first half. The Trojan defense held Souther Miss to 31 percent shooting to open the game.

The final half of the regular season was all Troy, as the Golden Eagles never got closer than five. With 5:33 left in the game, Troy led by a game-high 16. Rigsby led Troy with 13 second-half points, including going 6-6 from the free-throw line. The Troy defense once again held the Golden Eagles offense to a sub-40 shooting percentage.

Troy’s defense finished the night holding Southern Miss to 34.5 percent from the field, and forced the Golden Eagles into 16 turnovers. Troy outscored Southern Miss 16-4 on points off turnovers. Troy outrebounded Southern Miss 46-42.

The Golden Eagles were led by Denijay Harris, who had 15 points and eight rebounds.

With the victory, Troy clinched the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament and received an automatic bid into the quarterfinal round on Saturday. The Trojans will play the winner of the App State/TBD fourth round game that will be played on Friday afternoon.