By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The Troy Trojans built a 13-point lead at intermission and then shot 64 percent from the field in the second half Monday night in Alabama, rolling to an easy 86-72 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners.
Forward Myles Rigsby scored 17 points, while guard Tayton Conerway and forward Jerrell Bellamy added 15 as Troy (4-2) won on opening night in the Trojan Turkey Tipoff. Guard Cooper Campbell scored 10.
For UTSA, guard Primo Spears scored 20 points. Guard Damari Monsanto hit six 3-point baskets and finished with 19 as the Roadrunners (1-3) lost their third straight game. Forward Raekwon Horton produced a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
With the loss, UTSA fell to 0-3 against NCAA Division I competition this season, all by double figures.
The Roadrunners will play again on the Trojans’ home court Wednesday at noon, when they are scheduled to meet the Merrimack College Warriors (1-5).
First-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch lamented how his team has started off playing well in losses to Bradley, Little Rock and Troy, only to allow its opponent to seize the momentum with a flurry of baskets.
“Right now there’s just four- to five-minute spurts in the first half, where teams are going on hellacious runs, 10-0, 12-2, whatever the case may be, and it’s causing these deficits,” Claunch told Andy Everett on the team’s radio broadcast. “Now I was much more pleased with the second half … and how we responded. We got it back to seven.”
Coming off three 20-plus loss seasons in a row under a previous coaching staff, UTSA entered the season picked to finish tied for 11th in the American Athletic Conference. Troy entered picked third in the Sun Belt. Right now, the Roadrunners seem to struggle with consistency at the first hint of adversity.
“We knew this would be a tough test, and certainly we did some good things,” Claunch said. “But there’s an element of basketball toughness that we have to improve on.”
A major change in momentum in Troy’s favor came about five minutes into the second half.
Just as the Roadrunners produced a Horton putback, a steal and then a fast break layup by Spears, pulling to within seven points, the Trojans answered with an 11-2 run.
Campbell, a freshman, sparked the streak with two 3-point buckets. Campbell’s second triple in the sequence pushed Troy in front by a score of 59-43 with 11:27 remaining.
UTSA made another run later in the game, with forward Jo Smith stepping out to knock down a three. After a turnover on the other end, UTSA forward Sky Wicks scored on a breakaway.
When it hit the bottom of the net, the Roadrunners were within 70-60 with 5:10 remaining.
In response, Troy answered with a 3-point bucket by Conerway. Following a UTSA miss, the home team advanced the ball and finished with a resounding dunk by Bellamy. The stuff lifted the Trojans into a 75-60 advantage with 4:26 left.
For the game, the Trojans shot 55 percent from the field and 55 percent (11 of 20) from three. UTSA, by comparison, hit 44 percent afield and 46 percent from behind the arc. The Roadrunners made 13 of 28 triples, with seven players making at least one.
With UTSA missing three players, two injured and one ineligible, Troy dominated in bench scoring (40-16) and points in the paint (34-18).
First half
The Trojans, playing the passing lanes and forcing mistakes, broke open a close game midway through the first half and raced to a 42-29 lead at intermission.
In the early going, the Roadrunners attacked the Trojans with Monsanto hitting threes and Spears popping jumpers.
The third of four first-half threes from Monsanto lifted UTSA into an 18-17 lead with 10:58 remaining. From there, Troy started to become more aggressive. The Trojans kept forcing errors and surged on a 25-11 run to the halftime buzzer.
Myles Rigsby led the Trojans at the half with eight points and three steals. Jerrell Bellamny had seven points and Victor Valdes and Tayton Conerway six. Conerway emerged as a menace defensively with four steals.
The Trojans finished the half with 12 steals and forced 14 UTSA turnovers. They also hald UTSA to 40.7 percent shooting. Monsanto led the Roadrunners with 13 points, hitting four of five from beyond the 3-point arc. Spears had nine points.
Records
UTSA 1-3
Troy 4-2
Coming up
UTSA vs. Merrimack College, Wednesday, noon, at Troy, Ala.
Notable
UTSA starting forward Jaquan Scott and reserve guard Paul Lewis didn’t play against Troy because of injuries, a spokesman said.
Scott averaged 7.7 points and three rebounds through the first three games. Lewis averaged 3.5 points in the first two. He has missed the last two with a foot injury.
Guard Tai’Reon Joseph, who is practicing but is ineligible to play, sat out his fourth game to start the season. He’s expected to be eligible sometime before the start of the AAC phase of the schedule.
In losses to Bradley, Little Rock and Troy, UTSA is giving up an average of 84 points per game while yielding 53 percent shooting from the field and 48.4 percent from the 3-point arc.
Merrimack (1-5) played Monday night on the road and lost its fifth straight, falling 81-74 to the University of Massachusetts Lowell. After winning at home against Vermont on opening night, Merrimack has dropped games to Virginia Commonwealth, Princeton, 24th-ranked Rutgers, Butler and UMass Lowell.
Merrimack is starting a new era in the program’s Division I history. The Warriors will be playing their first season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Merrimack is coming off two straight regular-season titles in the Northeast Conference. The Warriors’ coach is Joe Gallo, who likes to play zone defense.
Against the Roadrunners, the Warriors will be making their debut in the Trojan Turkey Tipoff. The Warriors, based in North Andover, Mass., will play Troy on Friday afternoon.