Troy could not pull off its second straight comeback win in the Sun Belt Conference tournament, falling 75-72 to James Madison in the quarterfinal round Saturday in Pensacola, Fla.

The Trojans trailed much of the game, including by seven with less than four minutes remaining and by four inside 30 seconds. Troy got to within two points twice in the final 10 seconds, but trouble at the free-throw line ultimately short-circuited the rally.

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“Obviously, it’s not the ending we wanted,” Troy coach Scott Cross said. “I’m very proud of our guys for the effort that they gave and how hard they fought. They never quit. It’s a team I can really identify with. The sacrifices they’ve made all year long have been a joy to coach.

“James Madison played a great game, they’re a very, very good defensive team. That was a heavyweight fight right there. We just ran out of time, honestly.”

Troy — which rallied from 13 down to beat Arkansas State 63-59 on Thursday — lost in the tournament quarterfinals for the second straight year. The fifth-seeded Trojans (20-14) had won seven of their last eight games coming into Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Dukes (22-10) advance to meet No. 8 South Alabama (18-15) in a semifinal game at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Jaguars knocked off top-seeded Southern Miss 78-61 in Saturday’s early game.

“It was a heck of a game,” JMU coach Mark Byington said. “Troy’s playing great basketball right now. … We’ve been playing well, and the two teams went after each other. This is how it’s supposed to be in tournaments. It’s not supposed to be easy. We’ve got to have answers to anything that happens out there.

“I love the toughness my guys showed. They showed resiliency and made big plays — whether it was free throws, stops, rebounds. That’s what you’ve got to do.”

Behind a season-high 27 points from Sun Belt Conference Sixth Man of the Year Terrence Edwards, James Madison led nearly throughout. Troy continued to chip into the lead, however, and had cut it 71-69 with 24 seconds remaining behind 26 points from junior guard Christyon “Spud” Eugene.

The Dukes went back up by four when Alonzo Sule hauled in Vado Morse’s court-length pass and dunked it home with 18 seconds left. Sule was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw to keep it a 73-69 game.

Eugene made a one-hander in the lane and was fouled with 10.5 seconds left, but also missed his free throw. Forward Zay Williams got the rebound and was fouled on his putback attempt, but made just one of two free throws to keep the Trojans down by one at 73-72 with 6.5 seconds left.

JMU’s Noah Freidel was fouled and made both of his free throws in a one-and-one situation to put his team back up by 3. Troy tried to draw up a 3-point attempt for Eugene in the closing seconds, but the Dukes fouled Kieffer Punter near midcourt with 1.8 seconds left before he could get rid of the ball.

Punter missed his first free throw, then intentionally missed the second in hopes of a wild carom and 3-point attempt. However, JMU’s Takal Molson got the rebound as time expired.

“The last (free throw) we had to miss because we had no chance (to get the ball back),” Cross said. “But that’s part of it. Those are hard free throws with the game on the line. It’s just different. I’ve been there before. … It’s one of the hardest things to do in basketball.

“… There were a ton of plays. I don’t think it’s just free throws [why Troy lost]. We gave up a ton of offensive rebounds, there were times we could have walled them up. Maybe we blew a defensive assignment. Those were things that dictated the outcome of the game more than just the missed free throws at the end.”

Edwards also had a game-high 12 rebounds in addition to his 27 points. Molson added 15 points and eight boards for JMU, while Freidel and Sule were both in double-figures with 10 points.

The Dukes outrebounded the Trojans 46-30, including 16-11 on the offensive glass. Led by Edwards, JMU got 42 points off its bench, as opposed to only 5 for Troy.

“We just tried to stay locked-in defensively,” Eugene said. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds. That’s one of the things we worked on in practice, but that’s one thing we’ve had trouble with this year. … We just couldn’t come out with the win.”

Nelson Phillips added 20 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Troy, while Williams had 13 points and six boards. The Trojans could be invited to one of the lower-level tournaments — such as the College Basketball Invitational or The Basketball Classic — but Cross said any decision on accepting would come later.

“We’ll have to talk to the players as well as my boss (Troy athletics director Brent Jones) to see if there’s an option to consider,” said Cross, whose team played in the CBI last year. “I don’t know. We were focused on going to the NCAA tournament, so we’ll have to re-group and try to figure out where we stand. This group has won 20 games, and they’ve done a lot. … We’ll have to figure it out in the next couple of days.”