Troy Wins Sun Belt Title 77-61 Over Georgia Southern

Troy captured the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship with a 77-61 victory over Georgia Southern on Monday night at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida. The win secured the regular-season champion Trojans their second consecutive automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and marked their fourth overall appearance in the postseason event.

Thomas Dowd led Troy with a double-double, scoring 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including two 3-pointers, while grabbing 13 rebounds. The Trojans, now 22-11 overall and 13-6 in conference play, built a commanding lead early and never looked back. Jerrell Bellamy contributed 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, Victor Valdes added 12 points and six assists, and Cobi Campbell chipped in 11 points. Troy's efficient first-half performance set the tone, as they outscored Georgia Southern 38-25 before halftime, holding the Eagles to just 8-of-26 shooting from the field and 4-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Georgia Southern, the No. 10 seed with a 21-16 record, entered the final on an improbable five-game winning streak over five days, a feat achieved by only a handful of teams in conference tournament history. The Eagles, who scored an average of...