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The Troy Trojans (10-6, 3-2) were handed their second straight conference loss on Jan. 11 after falling to the Arkansas State Red Wolves (12-5, 3-2) by a score of 84-78 at home. 

The loss came despite a career night for senior Tayton Conerway, who tallied a career-high 32 points, becoming the first Trojan to surpass 30 points in a game since 2019. Conerway, whose previous career-high was 20 points, scored 24 in the first half alone. 

Troy led for the majority of the game, holding a 43-34 lead at halftime. Arkansas State’s offense began chipping away Troy’s lead in the second half and with 12:20 left, cut the Trojan lead to just one. While Troy managed to stretch the lead to five with 2:14 left, the Red Wolves went on a 10-3 run to take an 80-77 lead with 17 seconds left. Arkansas State managed to hang on for the win after that. 

“I mean it was an identical game to Texas State. We had the lead for 35:30 which is amazing, and they had the lead for 1:19,” Troy coach Scott Cross said. “Texas State had the lead for 45 seconds. We’re playing really good basketball for the majority of the time. I think it’s a lesson for our guys. 

“We’re not all the way connected the way we need to be. I think that’s the next step, the next evolution for us. They were really scoring it on us late in the game. To get stops during that time, you have to be really tough, physical and connected on defense. I think that’s what we’re missing. We played phenomenal offensively.”

While Troy had a solid shooting night, knocking down 42.6 percent of its shots, the Red Wolves managed to connect on 50 percent of their shots on the night. Troy also won the rebound battle 32-29 but were still outscored 34-26 in the paint. Both teams scored 13 points each off turnovers. 

Conerway added four rebounds, seven assists and four steals to his 32 points. He also did it on 8-of-12 shooting and 4-for-7 from three-point land. Theo Sent also scored a career-high 18 points to go along with four rebounds and two blocks. Thomas Dowd chipped in with six points and seven rebounds. Taryn Todd led Arkansas State with 21 points and seven rebounds. 

Troy will look to rebound on the road this week as the Trojans travel to face ULM on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and then battle rival South Alabama in Mobile on Saturday at 3 p.m.