TROY, Ala. – Zay Williams and Nelson Phillips combined for 49 points, including 33 in the second half, and Troy made 11 of its final 13 shots from the floor to earn an 80-65 win over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in a Sun Belt Conference game on Saturday at Trojan Arena.
Williams posted a double-double with a game-high 26 points with 10 rebounds as Troy (16-11, 8-6 Sun Belt) snapped an eight-game losing streak to Louisiana (20-6, 10-4 Sun Belt) and earned its first home victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns since a 71-52 win over February 2, 2012.
Phillips, a transfer from Georgia State, came off the bench to score 23 points with five 3-pointers in seven attempts as Troy outscored Louisiana, 50-30, in the second half by going 16-for-22 from the floor (72.7 percent) while outrebounding Louisiana, 23-13.
Louisiana trailed 27-23 after an Aamer Muhammad bucket with 5:14 remaining in the first half before using a 12-3 run to close out the period and take a 35-30 lead at the break.
Jalen Dalcourt, who finished with 11 points, scored eight in the span with a pair of 3-pointers with Terence Lewis II adding a bucket and Jordan Brown a pair of free throws.
Isaiah Richards’ layup with 9:48 remaining tied the game at 50-50 before Troy would go on a 16-3 run to pull away. Muhammad put the Trojans ahead for good with a layup to start the run before Phillips drained a pair of free throws and added a bucket for a 56-50 lead.
Back-to-back layups by Darius McNeill would push Troy’s lead to 66-53 before Williams scored six straight points after a pair of free throws by Michael Thomas got Louisiana to within 66-57 with 4:03 left.
Greg Williams, Jr., led Louisiana with 15 points with Richards pulling down a season-high eight rebounds. The Ragin’ Cajuns finished 24-for-59 (40.7 percent) from the floor and 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
Louisiana will return home for an in-state battle with ULM at the Cajundome on Thursday at 7 p.m., before traveling to face James Madison on Saturday (Feb. 18) in a 6 p.m. CT contest.
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