Sports briefs

Louisiana-Monroe defeats Troy in overtime 58-55
TROY, Ala. — Mack Foster scored a career-high 15 points and Majok Deng also had 15 to lead Louisiana-Monroe to a 58-55 overtime victory over Troy on Thursday night.
Foster scored four points and Justin Roberson two in a 6-0 run to begin overtime. Musa Abdul-Aleem and Kevin Thomas responded with baskets for Troy to trail 56-54 with 1:49 left. Troy had a chance to take the lead when Deng was called for a flagrant-one foul. But Thomas missed both free throws and the Trojans also couldn’t convert after the inbounds. Roberson added two free throws for the final score.
Abdul-Aleem led Troy (7-12, 2-8 Sun Belt) with 17 points. Thomas had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his 11th career double-double. Wesley Person scored 11 points and John Walton III added 10.
The Trojans led by 10 at halftime and were up 13 with 18:39 left in regulation. The Warhawks (13-8, 7-3) rallied to tie with 8:55 left and the game stayed close with Foster sending the game to overtime with a 3-pointer with 1:18 to go.

Louisiana Tech beats Western Kentucky 69-56
RUSTON — Raheem Appleby and Alex Hamilton scored 17 points apiece and Louisiana Tech beat Western Kentucky 69-59 on Thursday to claim first place in Conference USA standings.
Erik McCree scored 14 points with 12 rebounds, Kenneth Smith added 11 points with 12 assists, and the Bulldogs (16-5, 7-1) won their 23rd straight home game.
Louisiana Tech led 11-4 on a layup by Michael Kyser, but Western Kentucky ripped a 12-2 run to take a 16-13 lead. The Hilltoppers went scoreless for four minutes while the Bulldogs scored 13 unanswered points and led 31-23 at halftime.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with an 11-4 run, but the Hilltoppers gained ground on a 12-2 run and pulled within 49-41 on a 3-pointer by DJ Clayton. Hamilton, Smith and Appleby each hit 3s and the Bulldogs pulled ahead 57-45 with 7:10 left, then finished with a 10-5 run.
T.J. Price led Western Kentucky (14-6, 7-1) with 17 points and 10 rebounds and George Fant scored 15.
From The Associated Press