PENSACOLA, Fl. — PENSACOLA, FL. (WTKR) — The clock officially struck midnight for Old Dominion on Saturday night.
The Monarchs couldn't overcome an 18-point halftime deficit against Troy, ultimately falling 75-59 in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament.
"What we went through this year to get to this point, I think every Monarch fan should be singing the praises of our student-athletes," said ODU head coach Mike Jones.
It brings an end to a memorable run for the silver and blue in the tournament. ODU started out as the tenth seed in the new format but strung together three straight wins, including a dramatic win over No. 7 seed Texas State on Thursday and a come from behind win over sixth seeded App State on Friday.
A first time matchup this season, both teams got off to slow starts offensively with Troy holding a 19-15 lead with 6:00 remaining in the first half. That's where the third seed found its rhythm, ending the half on a 17-3 run to take a 36-18 lead into the break.
"Coach just told us to keep fighting, stick together, and that's what we had to do," said senior forward R.J. Blakney, who finished a game-high 20 points. "In the face of adversity, you just have to face it and be a man."
After Troy extended the lead beyond 20 points on two occasions in the second half, the silver and blue fought back.
Trailing 51-31 with 15 minutes remaining, ODU rattled off a 14-4 run highlighted by a Blakney dunk at the 8:44 mark to cut the lead to 55-45.
They built up momentum, but the comeback couldn't sustain itself after that. Troy withstood the storm and responded with a 13-5 flurry to put the game out of reach.
After playing four games in four days, it appeared the fatigue of the gauntlet finally caught up to Old Dominion.
"The second half was a scramble. We were doing anything we could to just compete," Jones said. "For a team that had played three games in three days to be running around crazy like that, I trust our guys to give it everything they got and I commend them for that."
Sean Durugordon finished with 14 points while Davis Jr. chipped in 10 points. The sharpshooting guard played through foul trouble nearly from the jump, picking up his third foul less than seven minutes into the game.
ODU continued to win on the glass with a 46-39 rebounding advantage, but gave up 44 points in the paint to the Trojans. Sun Belt player of the year Tayton Conerway finished with 18 points in the game while Myles Rigsby posted 17 points and 10 rebounds.
It brings a close to the first year for Jones as head coach of his alma mater, turning in a 15-20 campaign that saw the program win their first games in the Sun Belt Tournament.
The Monarchs became a tournament feel-good story through their three wins from the ten spot. Now heading into the offseason, the focus turns to taking the momentum from that run and sustaining it beyond one week in March.
"I'll remember this is as a start of a new era, the Mike Jones era," said sophomore guard Robert Davis Jr. "We weren’t surprised that we were here winning three games in three days. We were not surprised. We believed in ourselves. We believed in each other. And we believed in the man leading us."
"This is what we do, this is what we're going to do," Jones said, fighting back emotions. "This is what should be expected from us. Anybody who works at our university, anybody who decides to sign and come play with us, this is the standard, for us to come to our tournament and be who we were this weekend."
"We've got to get better so we can go further."
