Jackson Fields scored a career-high 20 points — including five 3-pointers — as Troy knocked off Arkansas State 71-70 on Saturday in Jonesboro and moved into a tie for first place in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Trojans improve to 17-9 overall and 10-4 in the Sun Belt, tied with the Red Wolves, South Alabama and James Madison for first place with four regular-season games remaining. The loss was the first at home all season and first in a span of 15 games dating to last year for Arkansas State, which falls to 19-8, 10-4.

“This was a tough, gritty win for us,” Fields said in his post-game interview on the Troy Radio Network. “The guys just came in and we stuck to what we know, what we learned every day in practice — defend and be tough. We came out here and got the job done, did what we had to do.”

Troy trailed by as many as nine points in the first half and 34-30 at halftime before taking its first lead of the second half on Thomas Dowd’s 3-pointer with 13:57 to play. The teams traded the lead back and forth until Fields’ fifth 3-pointer gave the Trojans the lead for good at 63-62 with 2:01 to play.

Victor Valdes then made four straight free throws to extend Troy’s lead to 67-62 entering the final 80 seconds. Arkansas State’s Taryn Todd hit a 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining to cut the Trojans’ lead to 69-67, but the Trojans’ Marcus Rigsby and Dowd each made a free throw to make it a four-point game before Terrance Ford’s harmless 3-pointer for the Red Wolves at the buzzer.

Troy earned a season split with Arkansas State, which won 84-78 at Trojan Arena on Jan. 11, a game in which the Trojans blew a 9-point halftime lead. Before Saturday, the Red Wolves had not lost at home in more than a calendar year, since James Madison pulled off a 77-73 victory in Jonesboro on Feb. 7, 2024.

“It validates what we’ve done, the work that we put in,” Troy coach Scott Cross said. “Now (Troy’s players) know this is what we have to do so we can win a championship and we can go to the NCAA tournament. ‘Cause we ain’t playing anybody tougher than these guys. They’re the best outside of us, in my opinion, in the league.

“And so we went on the road and we took it to them. Honestly, we beat their butts for 36 minutes at our place as well. We just didn’t finish it. … But this is a huge one for the program.”

Ford led Arkansas State with 18 points, while Todd added 14 and Izaiyah Nelson had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. However, the Trojans held Kobe Julien and Joseph Pinion — two of the Red Wolves’ top three scorers — to a combined 12 points on 4-for-17 shooting.

Dowd and Tayton Conerway both added 13 for Troy, while Myles Rigsby had nine points and eight rebounds. But the difference-maker was Fields, who was just 3-for-28 on 3-pointers this season before going 5-for-7 beyond the arc on Saturday.

“Jackson Fields was amazing,” Cross said. “The guy’s been in the gym working on his shot. He hadn’t had a lot of success from the 3-point line, but … you see his shot. It’s beautiful. And so we got it at the right time.”

Troy has a favorable schedule down the stretch, with home games vs. Louisiana on Thursday and Coastal Carolina next Saturday before finishing up on the road at Texas State Feb. 25 and at Southern Miss Feb. 28. All four of the Trojans’ remaining opponents currently have a losing a record in-conference.

Tip-off for Troy vs. Louisiana is set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Trojan Arena.