PENSACOLA, Fla. (3/10/25) – Arkansas State men’s basketball led by as much as eight in the second half, but a furious rally by Troy proved to be the difference as the Trojans pulled away to win 94-81 Monday in the final of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament inside the Pensacola Bay Center.

The Red Wolves (24-10) led 43-41 at the break, but Troy (23-10) owned a 53-38 advantage in the final 20 minutes and scored 46 points in the paint.  

Five players scored in double digits for A-State, which shot 41.3 percent (26-63) from the field and hit 10-of-26 (.385) from 3-point range. Dyondre Dominguez (19 points) and Derrian Ford (17) combined for 36 points off the bench, both hitting a trio from downtown. Terrance Ford Jr. added 11 points and seven assists, while Kobe Julien and Joseph Pinion scored 10 apiece.

Troy shot 46.7 percent (28-60) from the floor and converted 33-of-39 (.846) from the free-throw line. Tayton Conerway (21 points) and Myles Rigsby (20) led the Trojans in scoring, while Thomas Dowd and Jackson Fields accounted for 14 and 10 each.

The Trojans led for the game’s first 15 minutes until Ford Jr. sparked an 8-0 run to level the score at 30-all with 4:59 left in the half. A Dominguez trey put A-State up 36-34 with 2:51 remaining, but Troy answered to reclaim a 39-38 edge inside a minute to go. The lead seesawed back and forth twice more, but Ford knocked down a trey with 24 seconds left, giving the Scarlet and Black a 43-41 lead at intermission.

Another trey by Ford with 10:07 left in the outing gave A-State its largest lead of the night, but Troy mounted a 24-4 run to pull ahead by double digits. The Trojans managed to convert late foul shot opportunities and hit critical shots inside the seal the contest.

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