Contributed
(Dec. 18, 2009)

TROY – The Troy men’s basketball team got 22 points from its reserves on Thursday night as it battled New Orleans late into the game before emerging with a 78-76 win in Trojan Arena.

22 points is the most points scored by Troy’s bench against a Division I opponent this season. The Trojan reserves had been averaging 20.9 points per game entering Thursday night’s contest.

“There were a couple of big keys tonight for us,” head coach Don Maestri said. “Our bench play from [Bernard] Toombs, [Levan] Patsatsia and [Vernon Taylor] was big. I haven’t seen bench play like that from us this season.

“Last year we had Mario Telfair, Kenny Ware and Josh Williams that came in every night for us off of the bench and put up solid performances. Tonight was a lot like that.”

The victory over the Privateers was also Troy’s victory in a Sun Belt opener in the school’s history. Troy has been a member of the Sun Belt since the 2004-05 season.

The Trojans (6-5, 1-0) last opened a conference schedule with a victory during the 2003-04 season with a December win over Stetson. That year was Troy’s last as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

“This is a very important win for us,” Maestri said. “There are going to be a lot of games like this through the season. The team knew if they lost this game tonight we would be opening Christmas presents in the locker room. Our guys had a little added motivation.”

Troy spotted New Orleans (5-5, 0-2) four points because of a unique circumstance. The Trojans were charged with a technical foul because of a dunk during pre-game warm-ups. UNO’s Billy Humphrey knocked down a pair of free throws before the opening tip, then Jaroslav Tyrna scored the game’s first two points.

Following that opening basket, Troy rattled off a 16-2 run to take a 16-6 lead with 11:35 left in the first half.

That outburst would come to a screeching halt as UNO outscored Troy by 17 points over a 7:48 span in the first half before taking a lead at 32-29. During that span the Trojans went scoreless for more than seven minutes. Humphrey scored 14 of UNO’s 24 points during the run.

Mike Vogler got a breakaway lay-up, then a ferocious dunk by Yamene Coleman off a feed from Antywan Jones put the Trojans back in the lead 33-32 with 30 to go before halftime.

The Privateers then held the ball for a final shot and Charles Carmouche connected on 3-pointer from the top of the key to give UNO at 35-33 lead at the break. Humphrey led all scorers at the half with 21.

New Orleans kept the hot shooting going in the second half as Carmouche and Humphrey connected on back-to-back treys to open the second frame.

The Trojans finally managed to tie the game at 50 with 10:32 remaining, but the teams traded baskets over the next two-plus minutes with Troy ultimately taking a four-point lead, 56-52, behind a Levan Patsatsia triple.

Troy trailed by six at the 14:25 mark, but the Trojan bench, particularly Taylor, keyed a 22-8 run to put them up by 10 at 66-56. The junior from Cross, South Carolina, scored seven points during the run.

Also included in the surge was a trio of 3-pointers by Antywan Jones. He finished the night with nine points.

UNO refused to go away countering the Troy run with an 8-2 spurt of their own to cut the lead to just four before Yamene Coleman hit a jumper from the foul line to put Troy on the board. With the basket, Coleman recorded his second straight double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Coleman is the first Trojan to record consecutive double-doubles since Rob Lewin accomplished the feat in five straight games from February 29, 2004 – March 17, 2004.

New Orleans traded 3-pointers with Trojan free throws over the final minute, but Troy ultimately emerged victorious. Troy hit 8-of-12 free throws in the final 1:09 of the game.

Humphrey led all scorers with 31 points on 6-of-8 shooting from deep and Carmouche finished with 17. As a team, UNO hit 14-of-20 3-pointers to the tune of 70 percent.

Pacing the Trojans on offense was Vogler with 19 points, one shy of tying his career high. Brandon Hazzard scored 13 points and Taylor added 14.