The Messenger
Jan. 12, 1992
(Published Jan. 14, 1992)

By Bill Rice

YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING

ESPN sportscaster Bob Ley called it a shooting drill where score was kept. Others simply called it amazing.

Troy State 258, Devry Institute 141 was the final score in a basketball game destined to be preserved in the pages of both “the Guiness World Book of Records” and “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.”

Sunday afternoon in front of an estimated 2,000 fans, Troy State’s basketball team boldly went where no basketball team had gone before. No less than nine “official” NCAA records were shattered as Troy explored heretofore uncharted terrain, “the 200s.”

FIRST SECONDS TOUGH

Troy’s assault on the record book started slowly.

“It was a little touch and go there early,” Troy’s Paul Bryan said with a laugh.

Indeed. It took Troy a full 54 seconds to register its first bucket. Troy’s Andy Davis did the honors on a put-back. Ironically, it was Davis’ only shot and only points of the game.

Although Davis had 12 rebounds and eight assists, he will likely one day be the answer to a local trivia question: Name the only TSU player not to score in double figures in the 1992 Troy-Devry game.

Not only did 10 Troy players register in double digits, eight finished with 20 or more points. Terry McCord had 41 points, including nine three-pointers. Brian Simpson, in just 15 minutes of playing time, had 37 points and 11 threes. Three Troy players were a point shy of 30 points.

“It reminded me of a street game you play in the summer,” Troy guard Tommy Davis said. “After you play a couple of games, people get a little tired and quit playing defense. Then it’s showout time with everybody trying to dunk and outdo each other.”

Despite playing at a frenzied pace from the opening tip, Troy had managed just 15 points after three minutes.

And with 9:53 left in the first half, Troy was still behind “schedule” with 47 points.

From there, however, Troy shifted into hyperspace. The century mark fell with 3:14 left in the half. Any scoring the three minutes would be gravy.

“when you see one guy hitting, then everybody gets in the act,” Davis said. “It becomes contagious.”

The virus spread rapidly. Troy finished the first half with 123 points. Twenty-one separate times trifectas paid out.

After 20 minutes of basketball, the record book was already in shambles. Troy’s 123 first-half points surpassed its own record of 103 set last year against, you guessed it, DeVry.

At halftime, members of four recreation department teams put on an exhibition scrimmage. Only points were scored in the two scrimmages.

With 123 points in the bag, a nuclear attack is likely the only thing which could have prevented Troy from reaching 200 points. Peace, however, was maintained. Points, like rabbits, continued to reproduce.

Troy exploded for 26 points in the first three minutes of half No. 2.

With 13:15 remaining in the game, Troy led 168-80. it was then Troy scored its first points of the half not of the three-point or slam dunk variety.

For those scoring at home, it went a something like this:

Jack Smith with authority: slam! Tommy Davis for three: good! Smith for three, Terry McCord: backboard-shaking dunk, Davis for three, Dandrea Evans: slam, McCord: slam, Davis: three, Evans: three, McCord: three, Davis: slam, McCord: three, Davis: three, Evans: three, McCord: three, Davis: three and, finally, Paul Bryan: old-fashioned, mundane, put-back.

After Bryan’s layup, the trend kicked back in. Sixteen of Troy’s next 18 points came in four trifectas and two more dunks. For the game, troy had 28 dunks to go with its 51 three-pointers. In other words, 209 of Troy’s 258 points came either via the long ball or the very short ball.

“I don’t know how many dunks I had,” Bryan said. :It was hard to keep track. I guess it was about eight.”

There were 10 minutes left in the game when Troy broke the all-time scoring record of 187. Chris Greasham’s NBA three-pointer gave Troy 189.

With 7:53 left, Steve Hunt calmly drilled the shot heard round the world, a three-pointer from the top of the key, to break the bicentennial mark.

SCOREBOARD SUFFERS NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

But the Troy fans never got the thrill of seeing the big number appear on the big overhead Pepsi scoreboard. It seems American industry simply does not make scoreboards that count that high. Troy’s play had surpassed modern technology.

“I don’t know of any scoreboard (that registers into the two hundreds),” D.R. Jenkins, director of athletic facilities at TSU, said. “Except for us last year, no team had ever come close to scoring 200 points. I doubt any pro scoreboards have the capacity to go to 200. It’s something the engineers will have to work out, I guess.”

On a suggestion from Troy assistant coach David Felix, scorekeeper Scotty Sauers eventually started over from zero.

Thus, a stranger entering Sartain Hall as the clock ran down would have been shocked to see that the under-matched visiting team, which had just seven players, had nonetheless trounced the home team 141-58.

In the end, of course, 200 points was a piece of cake.

In the second half, Troy State did what every coach desires. It improved. Because it improved, Troy also set a record for breaking a record in the shortest period of time –– by hitting for 135 points in the second stanza, shattering the minutes old mark of 123.

The Trojans hit a phenomenal 30 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes. Of all the records set Sunday, this was perhaps the topper. Prior to Jan. 12, the NCAA record for most three-pointers in a game was 25 (set by Troy State). Troy blew away this record in less than a single half, it more than doubled the figure when two halves are combined.

PLAYERS DRAW ENERGY FROM CROWD

Jack Smith, who was recently named Sports Illustrated’s small college Player of the Week, said Sunday’s game tops appearing in SI.

“This is bigger than any individual award, Smith said. “It seems almost impossible to hit 200 points in a game. It’s a great, great feeling. The crowd played a big part in us getting the record. Their hollering gave us the energy we needed.”

Smith said with so much pregame hype accompanying the DeVry game the players were determined not to let the fans down.

“I think in the back of our minds we thought we could do it,” he said. “When we saw so many people actually talking about it, we made up our mind that we were going to give it a shot and see what happens.”

And what happened was history, pure and astronomical.