Troy University’s men’s basketball team was defeated by Southern Miss 69-65 in a close game held Saturday night in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The contest was tied at halftime with both teams locked at 26 points.
Southern Miss (14-14, 7-8) pulled away in the second half, largely due to Tylik Weeks’ standout performance. Weeks scored 30 points after the break and contributed 28 of the Golden Eagles’ 34 points during a key stretch in the second half.
Troy (17-10, 9-5) struggled offensively throughout the game, making only six of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc and turning over the ball 15 times.
The Trojans started strong when Victor Valdes assisted Thomas Dowd for an early layup. Southern Miss quickly responded with a run to take an early lead. Troy’s offense had difficulty finding rhythm in the first half, but Kerrington Keil’s three-pointer at the shot clock buzzer and Jerrell Bellamy’s contributions helped keep them close.
Southern Miss led for most of the opening period until Austin Cross hit a three-pointer to narrow Troy’s deficit. Cross would finish with a career-high three made threes and six rebounds. The Trojans ended the first half on a positive note as Valdes sank two free throws and Theo Seng added a layup to tie things up at intermission.
Early in the second half, Seng’s basket gave Troy its first lead since early play, sparking a brief run that saw them go ahead by five. The advantage grew to eight points following Dowd’s only three-pointer of the evening.
Despite holding Southern Miss without a field goal for more than four minutes midway through the second half, Troy could not contain Weeks’ scoring surge down the stretch. His efforts brought Southern Miss back into contention and tied the score late in regulation.
Cross briefly put Troy back ahead with his third triple before Djahi Binet’s offensive rebounding—totaling 18 boards with 11 on offense—helped Southern Miss regain momentum. In total, all eight Trojans who played scored at least four points; Dowd led with 13 points while Valdes set his career high with eight rebounds and Kiel matched his best mark with three steals.
The final minutes saw several lead changes before Southern Miss established a five-point margin inside thirty seconds remaining. Cooper Campbell narrowed it to three, but missed opportunities allowed Southern Miss to secure victory as time expired.
Afterward, head coach Scott Cross commented: “I don’t think our guys played with the level of grit and toughness that we need to do to win on the road. We lost tonight rebounding the basketball, and it’s disappointing. We turned it over too many times; they had a lot more shot attempts than us. We’re now playing with our backs against the wall. It’s not going to be an easy road, but the only thing that matters is finding a way to beat ULM.”
The starting lineup of Cooper Campbell, Cobi Campbell, Victor Valdes, Thomas Dowd, and Theo Seng marked their twenty-second start together this season for Troy. Defensively, Troy has limited opponents to just four combined three-pointers over its last two games—the fewest allowed over such a span since February-March 2024.
With this loss,Troy moves to 5-20 all-time against Southern Miss.
Next up for Troy is an away game against ULM scheduled for Wednesday night at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, Louisiana.
