NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Jordon Varnado scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Alex Hicks added 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Troy rallied to beat South Alabama 69-62 in Wednesday's opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Wesley Person scored 13 points for the seventh-seeded Trojans (16-16), who advance to face No. 2 seed Georgia State in a Friday quarterfinal.
Trailing 35-29 at halftime, Varnado's 3 put the Trojans up 41-39 and his jumper sparked a 10-2 run for a 56-47 lead with 10:21 left. Rodrick Sikes' layup capped a 9-2 run and the Jaguars closed to 68-62 with 10 seconds left, but got no closer. Person made 1 of 2 free throws and Herb McGee's 3-pointer missed with four seconds left.
Troy hit six 3s and shot 37.5 percent from the field in beating the Jaguars for the third time this season.
Sikes scored 18 points with seven boards and Josh Ajayi added 17 points for No. 10 seed South Alabama (14-18).
South Alabama Notes
• Rodrick Sikes scored 18 points, with six coming from the free throw line and another six coming from behind the arc. These totals pushed him to the sixth most points in a season (597) and fifth in three pointers (88) as well as free throws (153).
• After shooting only 33.9 percent from the field, South Alabama drops to 7-49 under head coach Matthew Graves when their opponent shoots a higher percentage.
• The Jaguars made only one of their 12 three pointer attempts in the second half. They ended the day shooting 17.4 percent (4-23) from behind the arc.
• The Jaguars ended the season on a five-game losing streak, tying the longest such streak of the season.
Troy Notes
• The Trojans won all three meetings against the Jaguars in the 2017-18 season by an average margin of 13 points.
• Jordon Varnado has scored at least 22 points in six of their last eight games. He’s averaged over eight rebounds during that span.
• The Trojans have lost only one game (12-1) in the 2017-18 season when their opponent scores between 60-69 points.
• Winning the rebounding margin against Sun Belt opponents has been a recipe for success this season as the Trojans have only lost one of the nine games in which they’ve done so.
• The Trojans won only their fifth game of the season after trailing at halftime.
Troy Head Coach Phil Cunningham
Opening Statement:
“I thought this game was typical of tournament play in the first round. Both teams had the jitters. We came out really slow. Jordon (Varnado) had some uncharacteristic misses around the rim. (South Alabama) was playing well. They really played well the first half and the one thing we had to do was keep grinding. We talked about it at halftime. Keep grinding. Keep grinding and get into their legs. I thought we ran into their legs a little bit toward the end of the half and just grinded one out. It wasn’t pretty but (we) got the win. I think one of the most critical things that happened in that game was when we got (Trhae) Mitchell in foul trouble. He got those four fouls and they had to take him out midway through the second half. That allowed Wes Person to get going because Mitchell is such a good defender on Wes.”
On the difference in Wesley Person’s first and second half performance:
“First half, I think you have to give credit to Trhae Mitchell. He was locked in to him. He’s got great length and great size. They do a great job of preparation. They know our stuff better than we do, so I thought Mitchell did a good job of him. Second half, Wes got loose. He scored on some drives. He got fouled, got to the foul line. We weren’t very good on the foul line today which is uncharacteristic of us. We’ve been one of the better teams in the league all year. I thought Wes hit a big three there when we were making that run. I think Wes feels good about being on this court. He was MVP of the tournament last year. When the game was on the line, he wanted the ball. This time of year you’ve got to get out of the way and let guys like he and Jordon (Varnado) and some other guys go make plays.”
On defending the three:
“We’ve been forcing it all three games against these guys. We’ve really done a good job on the perimeter and slowed them down. For example, (Roderick) Sikes made that huge three at the end of the half but outside of that he never really got going. Wes (Person) doesn’t get much credit, particularly from his teammates in the locker room. He gets little or no credit… that’s a joke. He did a good job on Sikes. Then BJ Miller went to him and did a good job. Sikes is a guy that if he gets it going, he’s really dangerous. He never really got it going except that one huge three hit end of the half.”
South Alabama Head Coach Matthew Graves
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was a very well-played game. I’ve got to tip my hat off to Troy. They played well. They took a really good shot from us. (Jordon) Varnado and (Wesley) Person really stepped up, you have to give them a lot of credit. I told our team I was really proud of them, I thought we fought, we did a lot of good things, but we obviously came up short. But I’m really proud. We started the game with four sophomores and a junior and those kids absolutely competed their butts off. They worked extremely hard and we just fell short. We got beat by a better team today. So a lot of credit to Troy.”
On the shooting percentage dropoff in the second half:
“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. The first time we played Troy we were 2-for-18 from the three, the second time we were 4-for-16, so if I see Phil (Cunningham) out in the next few weeks, I’ve got to ask him what his secret is. They did a great job of contesting our three-point shots in all of our games. I felt like in the first half though, we got out in transition. When it’s a broken floor and we can create spacing, we get better looks. I thought as the game slowed down, the pace favored Troy. Ultimately, you can’t shoot 1-for-12 from three in the second half and expect to come out on the right side.”
On the first few minutes of the second half.
“I think they got some good shots and made plays and we didn’t. I don’t think it was anything different than what we had seen before. They had some guys that stepped up and made plays and we struggled out of the gate. Overall, the pace of play – we needed this game to be a little bit faster, and Troy did a good job of throwing it inside to (Jordon) Varnado and (Alex) Hicks, and I think our bigs got a little bit tired. Again, you’ve got to give them a lot of credit, they played well.