TROY, Ala. -- A 19-3 run to close the first half provided Troy the working margin as they defeated Old Dominion 86-73 on Thursday night in Sun Belt Conference action at Trojan Arena.
"We were far from perfect tonight, but we didn't give up, we didn't give in, we stayed together and competed," said Interim Head Coach Kieran Donohue. "It got a little dicey at the end of the first half, but at half we asked them to compete throughout the second half and they did."
Troy (8-6, 2-0) opened the game on a 9-2 spurt as a Myles Rigsby three-pointer put them up at the 16:32 mark. ODU (4-10, 0-2) responded with a 7-2 flurry as Imo Essien drained a floater in the lane and Bryce Baker drilled a 3-ball as ODU trailed 11-9 at 15:21 left in the half.
A Devin Ceaser bucket trimmed a deficit to 14-11 with 14:21 on the clock, as Troy answered with the next five points. Tyrone Williams converted a turnover into a layup bringing ODU to 22-16 with 12:18 remaining.
The teams traded three-pointers as Williams drained his triple to trim the deficit to 22-16 with 11:36 on the clock. After a spurt for Troy, Baker drilled his second 3-ball of the first half to start a run for the Monarchs of hitting three straight from behind the arc. Ceaser hit the remaining two in that run as the Monarchs trailed at 7:36 mark by a 32-25 count.
"Contributions from a lot of guys, Ceaser played the most minutes of the year and was effective, Bryce hit shots and got some confidence and Ty competed, he didn't want me to take him out," said Donohue. "Obviously a disappointing result, but if we can figure out how to get better defensively and make some better decisions on attacking or not, we can move in the right direction."
Ceaser drilled a jumper with 4:02 left as ODU was down 40-31, but that was the last field goal in the half as Troy took a 55-34 halftime lead.
In the second half, the lead grew to as much as 26 points, but the Monarchs went on a 13-2 run as Ceaser hit a 3-ball to make the deficit 85-73 with 84 seconds left. That 3-pointer set a season high in points for him with a game-high 23. Baker drilled his fourth triple of the night in that run as he set a career high with 13 points.
Williams tied his career high with 22 points, R.J. Blakney paced the Monarchs on the boards with a career-best 12.
ODU now heads to Jonesboro, Arkansas for a 3:00 p.m. EST tip against Arkansas State.
Men's Basketball Falls In League Road Opener At Troy
Tyrone Williams matched his career high with 22 points at Troy