for second straight TAAC win

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

The Troy State Trojans finished off their home schedule in a big way Saturday with a 85-73 win over the Central Florida Golden Knights.

With the win Troy State clung to their lead in the Trans America Athletic Conference and marked their third-consecutive game of scoring more than 80 points.

While the normal weapon the Trojans (16-8 overall, 12-3 in TAAC play) look to to knock out opponents with – the 3-point shot – might not have been working as well as usual, it was a Eugene Christopher trey that began a TSU 12-0 run to put a stamp on this one.

With 8:19 left to go in the second half Central Florida’s Inyo Cue drove the lane and was fouled making the shot. He iced the old-fashion 3-point play with the free throw and knotted the score at 57-57.

Soon after Christopher launched his trey from the top of the key to start the run. Center Brian O’mara kept it going as he made his way through a crowd, got his defender up in the air and easily banked in the shot drawing foul.

The O’mara free throw made it a six-point swing Troy State’s way and from their point guard Detric Golden got involved hitting for the next six points.

After CFU had cut the lead back to single digits at 71-62, Robert Rushing hit his only 3-pointer of the game with under three minutes left to play. From there the Trojans simply had a little free throw shooting practice as Golden, Rushing and Jacova Jenkins hit 11-of-12 charity shots down the stretch to account for the rest of the TSU scoring.

Golden, while for the second straight game didn’t hit his first field goal until the second half, hooked up with Donnie Pemberton who hit a 3-pointer and helped the senior transfer break the Troy State record for assists in a single season. Golden finished with seven for the game and now has 143 on the year.

The TSU point guard also finished with 19 points, most of which came from a 11-of-12 night at the free throw line.

He was joined by Christopher who tied the Knights’ Cue for the game-high at 22. Pemberton had 20 and was one board away from a double-double with nine. O’Mara posted an 11 point night to tie his season best.

Now the Trojans must finish up their season on the road as they travel to Mercer, Jacksonville State and Samford.