SportsLine's model revealed its college basketball predictions for the Troy Trojans vs. Arkansas State Red Wolves on Monday in the Sun Belt Tournament championship game

Troy beat Arkansas State on Monday night to clinch a spot in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017.

For the second consecutive season, the Arkansas State men’s basketball team’s dream of making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999 fell one game short with a loss in the championship game of the Sun Belt Tournament.

The Red Wolves earned their first NCAA Tournament berth. The Dukes are on the bubble at 28-5 after seeing their 20-game winning streak end.

Arkansas State men’s basketball led by 8 in the 2nd half, but Troy used a 15-4 run en route to a 94-81 victory in the Sun Belt Championship Game. A-State falls in the final in Pensacola for the 2nd straight season.

Our Arkansas State vs Troy predictions for the Sun Belt Tournament final has the Red Wolves pulling away with a hard-fought win.

In the extra period, the Red Wolves scored first and never looked back, leading for all of overtime. When the final buzzer sounded, it was an 86-79 Arkansas State victory, giving the program its first-ever Sun Belt Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Arkansas State defeats James Madison for the Sun Belt Championship and earns an NCAA tournament bid.

It’s like muscle memory,” SBC Commissioner Keith Gill said about being in Pensacola. “What can we add and how can we enhance the championship?”