TROY, Ala. — A nine-point halftime lead fell away with Troy scoring 53 second-half points Saturday afternoon, and the WKU Hilltoppers lost their fourth-straight game at Sartain Hall to the Trojans, 83-77. Troy shot 51.6 percent in the second half and made six three-pointers, and it also converted 15 of 18 second-half free throw tries. The loss moves WKU's record to 8-17 overall and 4-8 in Sun Belt Conference play this season. Troy improves to 8-15 and 3-9 in the league.

Four Hilltoppers were in double figures Saturday afternoon, led by T.J. Price's 17 points and four three-pointers. Kahlil McDonald also nailed four threes and made all four of his free throws en route to 16 points, and Nigel Snipes and Jamal Crook had 12 and 10, respectively. George Fant had nine points and nine rebounds, leading WKU in rebounding for the sixth-straight game, and Jamal Crook and Derrick Gordon combined for nine assists.

Alan Jones led Troy with 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half. Emil Jones had 16 and nine rebounds, and Will Weathers had 12 points and six assists.

WKU shot 40.6 percent from the field in the game (26-for-64), but just 11-for-34 (.324) in the second half. The Hilltoppers made nine three-pointers on the afternoon. Troy ended the game at 45.0 percent shooting (27-for-60) and went 22-for-30 from the free throw line (.733). Troy outrebounded WKU in the game, 42-39.

The Hilltoppers came out firing in the first half, making eight of their first 14 shots and leading 20-15 at the under-12:00 media timeout. Price and Snipes had 17 of the WKU scores at that point, with Price nailing three-straight three-pointers at one point. WKU went over five minutes with just one field goal with the first half winding down, allowing Troy to get within three at 29-26, but back-to-back three pointers by Crook and McDonald opened the game back up.

O'Karo Akamune put in a tip-in with just over a minute left in the half to put WKU up by nine at 39-30, which would be the halftime margin. The Hilltoppers have now been leading, tied or within two points at the half in six-straight games.

Snipes and Price had 12 and 11 points at halftime, respectively, to lead WKU. Crook and Gordon combined for five assists and just one turnover, and the Hilltoppers only had six as a team at intermission. WKU shot 50.0 percent from the floor (15-for-30) and the same from three-point range (6-for-12) and limited Troy to 37.9 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes (11-for-29).

Troy was the hot team after the break, scoring 11 points over the first 4:48 to cut the WKU lead to five at 46-41. Three-pointers by R.J. Scott and Weathers forced WKU to call a timeout with less than five minutes gone by in the second half.

The hot shooting continued for the Trojans, as they tied the game at 50 with 11:25 remaining in the contest on an Alan Jones dunk after a steal. That made it a 15-4 Troy scoring burst, and it went to 18 of the last 23 for the Trojans a minute later when they took their first lead of the game at 52-50.

The Hilltoppers went on a field goal drought of nearly seven minutes before McDonald buried a three, which helped Troy take a 59-52 lead during that span. A pair of Price free throws made it just 61-60 in favor of Troy with 5:51 remaining, and the Hilltoppers took another lead a minute later at 64-63 with two McDonald free throw conversions.

But from there, Troy continued to distance themselves thanks to hot three-point shooting and rebounding on its way to a regular-season sweep of the Hilltoppers. McDonald hit a clutch three-pointer in the far corner with 1:46 on the clock to bring the Hilltoppers within five at 75-70, but they would get no closer than five the rest of the way as Troy earned the six-point win.

Troy had 30 points in the paint, and the WKU reserves, led by McDonald and Snipes, scored 39 points in the game. The Hilltopper second string has now scored at least 25 points 10 times this season.

Snipes' 12 points were one shy of a career high, and Price's 17 were two away from his career best. A freshman has now led WKU in scoring in 15 of the last 17 games.