HATTIESBURG, Miss. (Interstat) — In a game defined by a singular, spectacular performance, Tylik Weeks scored 32 points to will Southern Mississippi to a 69-65 comeback victory over Troy in a Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball game Saturday at Reed Green Coliseum.

The Golden Eagles, who trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, erased a deficit that stood at 54-44 with just over nine minutes to play. The surge was fueled almost entirely by Weeks, a 6-foot-7 junior from New York, who scored 24 of his points after halftime. His personal 9-0 run, capped by a steal and transition layup while being fouled with 7:12 remaining, turned a 49-47 Southern Mississippi deficit into a 56-49 lead, a sequence that proved to be the game’s decisive stretch.

The contest was a stark reversal from the teams’ meeting just one month prior, a 91-65 Troy rout. This time, Southern Mississippi improved to 14-14 overall and found a .500 conference record within reach. Troy, which entered as a heavy favorite according to predictive metrics, fell to 17-10.

The first half was a defensive struggle, ending in a 26-26 deadlock. Both teams struggled to find offensive rhythm, with the Golden Eagles leveraging their athleticism to generate 19 points off Troy turnovers and a 21-3 advantage in fastbreak points for the game. Troy’s interior presence, led by Thomas Dowd’s 13 points and three blocks, and Victor Valdes’s 10 points and six assists, kept the Trojans afloat during Southern Mississippi’s early runs.

The second half opened with Troy building its largest lead. A driving layup by Valdes gave the Trojans a 41-31 advantage with 16:41 to play, forcing a Southern Mississippi timeout. The Golden Eagles responded with increased defensive pressure, accelerating the pace and capitalizing on Troy’s miscues.

While Weeks carried the scoring load, he received crucial support from Djahi Binet of Nice, France, who added 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds, many on offensive put-backs. Isaac Taveras of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, contributed 11 points and four steals, anchoring the defensive effort that harried Troy into 19 turnovers.

For Troy, Dowd, from Dothan, Alabama, provided steady offense and rim protection, while Valdes orchestrated the attack. Austin Cross of Troy, Alabama, and Jerrell Bellamy of Phenix City, Alabama, each added nine points. The Trojans won the battle in the paint, 38-46, but could not overcome Southern Mississippi’s transition game and the singular brilliance of Weeks down the stretch.

In the final minute, with Southern Mississippi clinging to a 67-65 lead, Troy had two chances to tie or take the lead. A driving attempt by Cooper Campbell was heavily contested and missed with 35 seconds left. After Dylan Brumfield of Hattiesburg made one of two free throws to extend the lead to three, Troy’s final play resulted in a well-defended, missed three-point attempt by Dowd in the corner as time expired.

The announced attendance was 2,821. The victory snapped a two-game skid for Southern Mississippi, which hosts Old Dominion next Saturday. Troy, which has lost two of its last three, travels to face Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday.

The most critical phase of the game was unquestionably the seven-minute span in the second half where Tylik Weeks took complete control. With his team down 10, Weeks scored on a driving layup, a mid-range jumper, and a pair of free throws. His steal and three-point play at the 7:12 mark not only gave Southern Mississippi its first lead since early in the first half but also catalyzed the home crowd and visibly deflated the Trojans. That individual explosion transformed the game’s momentum permanently, turning a double-digit deficit into a lead the Golden Eagles would not relinquish.