Troy suffers the loss, 73-63, at the HTC Center, after Coastal Carolina finishes on seven unanswered points in the final 1:31.

The Trojans (18-9, 9-5 SBC) put themselves in a tough place with only two games remaining to take the number one seed, sitting at third in the Sun Belt Conference standings - one game behind.
 
Duke Deen (10) and Nick Stampley (10) were the only Trojans to score in double-figures in the loss as the bench unit took control, putting up 41 points.
 
Five players scored in double-digits (Vince Cole - 16, Rudi Williams - 13, Essam Mostafa - 12, Ebrima Dibba - 11, Josh Uduje - 10) for the Chanticleers (14-12, 6-8 SBC), combining for 17 makes from the free-throw line.
 
Coastal Takeover
It was a tale of two halves as Troy held the lead to close out the first, 36-33, before coming out in the second in a cold spell. 
 
Coastal opened the second half on an 8-0 run to lead, 41-36, starting on a second chance make from Williams 1:16 into the half.
 
The Chanticleers pushed to their largest lead of the game, 64-51, on a follow-up layup from Dibba with 6:00 left in the game.
 
Deen willed the deficit to three, 66-63, with 2:56 remaining after converting seven straight points that included two clutch 3-pointers.
 
The final 2:56 that followed Christyon Eugene's make saw the Chanticleers score seven unanswered points, including two blocked shots by Coastal to end the game, 73-63.
 
Raining Threes
Troy picked up where it left off against Appalachian State, raining down six three-pointers in the first half. 
 
Kieffer Punter started a string of four 3-pointers to end the half, banging one in with 5:47 left in the first half, ending a 6-0 run for Coastal, 27-24.
 
A minute later, TK Smith put together a pair of threes to push the Trojan lead to six, 33-27 after his second make was in response to a three from Uduje.
 
Stampley was the last to hop on the 3-point parade with 1:30 left in the first, nailing one from behind the arc to give him a team-high eighth point of the half and push the Trojan lead to seven, 36-29.
 
Scott Cross Gives His Thoughts
"It was a tough one. In the first half, we play pretty well. Good enough to win the game. In the second half, we struggled to get stops. We let them get out in transition and came out a little bit flat. We weren't hitting our shots. And then once we started taking some bad ones, then our shot selection was very poor in the second half. We're right there. Three points down, 2:30 on the clock, and we had all the momentum in the world with a steal. You got to be good enough to where you can overcome that. And we weren't tonight."
 
"Our reserves kept us in the game. Our starters, for the most part, didn't play up to the level that we needed them to play to be successful. We've got to get back to the drawing board. It's going to be a long trip home. And it's a quick turnaround because we play on Wednesday, and hopefully, our guys will be ready for that game."
 
Coasting Through the Numbers
• Troy's bench unit stepped up in the loss, scoring 65.1 percent (41-of-63) of the team's points.
• The Trojans won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Chanticleers, 32-26, in the trenches.
• Troy allowed five different Chanticleers to score in double-figures (Mostafa, Williams, Dibba, Cole, Uduje), marking the first time in conference play this season five or more opposing players scored double-digits in a single game.
• Efe Odigie scored four points in the loss, ending his six-game streak of double-digit scoring performances.
 
Just Two Left
Troy returns to the confines of Trojan Arena for its final homestand on Wednesday against UT Arlington. Game time's set for 6 p.m.