Cooper Campbell led Troy to a 79-69 victory over Akron on Saturday night at Trojan Arena, scoring 25 points and providing five assists without a turnover. The sophomore guard had struggled with his shooting in recent games but found his form, making 10 of 15 shots from the field and hitting five out of seven three-point attempts.
Campbell’s performance included two key three-pointers late in the game that helped secure the win for Troy (17-8). The Trojans improved to 2-0 in this season’s MAC-SBC Challenge after an earlier win against Kent State.
Troy relied heavily on its perimeter shooting, converting 51.9% (14-for-27) of its three-point attempts and making 88.2% (15-for-17) from the free throw line.
Akron opened the game with a nine-point run as Troy missed its first seven shots. Thomas Dowd ended the drought with a three-pointer for Troy. Akron later built a ten-point lead before four consecutive points by Theo Seng narrowed the gap. During this stretch, Troy’s defense held Akron scoreless from the field for more than seven minutes.
Jerrell Bellamy gave Troy its first lead late in the half, and by halftime, Troy was ahead 35-29 after scoring four of the last six points before intermission.
In the second half, Akron again started strong but Campbell responded quickly with another three-pointer—one of five he made after halftime. Additional threes from Cobi Campbell and Victor Valdes extended Troy’s lead to nine points early in the period.
Although Akron cut into the deficit midway through the second half, another long-range shot by Cooper Campbell restored a comfortable margin for Troy. A crucial offensive rebound by Kerrington Kiel set up Dowd for another three-pointer that pushed Troy’s advantage back into double digits.
Dowd finished perfect at the free throw line down the stretch while Campbell added two more threes to close out Akron’s hopes of a comeback.
Akron (19-5) was led by Tavari Johnson, who scored 26 points but needed 21 shots to do so and converted only one basket inside the arc.
Head Coach Scott Cross said: “This is up there with San Diego State for our best win of the year. [Akron] is easily as good as San Diego State, both top 50 programs. Our guys were really locked in mentally, and we played great offensively. Cooper Campbell got going; it was a great game for him to really get back in the offensive flow. It’s nice to get a win back in Trojan Arena after we let the last two slip.”
Campbell has now scored at least 20 points in three games this season. His stat line marked just the second time this year that a Sun Belt player recorded at least 25 points and five assists without committing a turnover—a feat achieved only 42 times across college basketball so far this season.
The victory over Akron was also significant because they entered ranked No.52 on KenPom.com rankings—making it one of Troy’s most notable wins alongside their November triumph over then-No.29 San Diego State.
Troy’s total of fourteen made threes tied their third-highest mark this season; their best came with seventeen against Louisiana on January 10th. Their free throw percentage Saturday ranked third-best for any game this year where they attempted ten or more shots from that range.
Victor Valdes matched his career high with four steals during Saturday’s contest.
With ten wins over Mid-American Conference teams on Saturday alone, Sun Belt schools won this year’s MAC-SBC Challenge series by fourteen victories to twelve overall matches between conferences.
Troy will return to Sun Belt Conference play Wednesday when they travel west to face Texas State at 7 p.m., available live via ESPN+ streaming service and audio coverage through Troy Sports Media Network.
