Duke Miles and Desmond Williams power Troy to first round Sun Belt tournament upset
Troy jumped out to an early lead on Friday night and never lost control as it took down three seed Texas-Arlington in the opening round of the Sun Belt tournament.
Freshman guard Duke Miles dropped a season-high 26 points and dished out nine assists in 35 minutes while Desmond Williams added 20 points and seven boards.
Miles is the first Troy freshmen in at least the last decade to reach 26 points in a March basketball game. He is also the second player in that same time span to reach both 26 points and nine assists.
One more superlative? Miles is the first player across college basketball this season to drop at least 26 points, record nine assists, five rebounds and four steals in a single game against a Division I opponent this year. Williams also added a steal and the two drew praise from head coach Scott Cross for their defensive work.
“Duke Miles and Des Williams it starts with them,” Cross said. “They did a great job pressuring their guards. Their guards are as good as any two guards in the conference. We knew we had to do a great job on them not letting them get comfortable. Duke and Des were just elite defensively tonight.”
The Mavericks’ three starting combined to shoot just 35.9 percent from the field while the team was held under 40 percent shooting.
On the other side, Khalyl Waters and Nick Stampley contributed with 17 points and 10 points, respectively. Stampley’s 10 rebounds gave him his fifth double-double of the year.
For Cross, this was his first appearance in the Sun Belt tournament with Troy and his first postseason win since 2018.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Cross said. “We obviously want to win. You got to win four games and you have to take them one at a time and this was step one. Now we play a team we’ve played four times already. We know them very, very well.”
Troy returns to action at Pensacola State College on Saturday night against Coastal Carolina in round two of the Sun Belt tournament.