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The Troy Trojans (1-0) opened up the 2024-2025 basketball season with an 84-74 win over the reigning MAC Champion Toledo Rockets (0-1) at home in the first game of the MAC-SBC Challenge.

Troy trailed just once – early in the first half – and led by as many as 17 points. The Trojans shot 52.2 percent from the field and held Toledo to 40.6 percent shooting. The Trojans also shot 30.4 percent from three-point land, while Toledo shot just 17.6 percent from beyond the arc.
The Trojans also forced 11 turnovers and turned the ball over themselves just 12 times. Troy had 16 assists compared to the 12 turnovers and outrebounded the Rockets 42-35. A total of 11 Trojans played and nine different players scored.

“I thought it was a great stepping stone for us,” Troy Coach Scott Cross said of the win. “We were very nervous going into this game. Toledo is a team that we watched go on Michigan’s home court (last season) and have them on the ropes. We knew it would be a very difficult game. They’ve won four straight MAC Championships and you have to be a really high level basketball team to do that.”

Cross was proud of the way his team performed in the opener but acknowledged it wasn’t perfect either.

“I’m proud of our guys. We were really locked in defensively,” he said. “We did a great job on the boards for the majority of the game. The last two or three minutes we got a little soft and lackadaisical with our defense. I wanted to hold them under 40 percent (shooting) but all in all you can’t be too unhappy with the way the guys played. We were very efficient offensively and a lot of guys contributed in the game. It was a pretty good all around game and a great start to the season.”

Dothan sophomore Thomas Dowd scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds, earned two steals and blocked a shot for the Trojans, while reigning Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Myles Rigsby earned 12 points, two steals, two blocks, one assist and six rebounds. The reigning Sun Belt Sixth Man of the Year Tayton Conerway also tallied 12 points, six assists, two steals and three rebounds.

Jackson Fields earned 10 points and grabbed four boards, while Theo Seng and Randarius Jones also scored 10 points each. Seng grabbed four rebounds and dished three assists, while Jones had five rebounds and one block.

Toledo was led by Javan Simmons with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Troy hits the road this weekend to face off against New Orleans on Nov. 9 before heading to SEC Country to face off against No. 16 Arkansas on Nov. 13.