Kirkwood coach Bill Gunn didn't have a lot to say following his team's 69-57 loss to Troy in the first round of the Meramec Holiday Festival Tournament on Tuesday night. But what he did say was more about the officiating than his team's performance.

In an ugly and tightly officiated game, Kirkwood (3-4) and Troy combined for 52 fouls and Troy made 29 free throws compared to just 26 attempts for Kirkwood in the final first-round game of the tournament.

Asked about the difference down the stretch after the game was deadlocked at 40 midway through the third quarter, Gunn didn't need any time to think.

"They shot about 30 free throws," Gunn said. "Apparently they decided they were going to call the game differently in the second half. They shot about 30 free throws and made a lot of them. It's difficult on kids to figure out what's going to happen when you play one way in the first half and a different way in the second half."

Troy scored 37 points in the second half but made just eight field goals. They went 20-for-27 from the free-throw line in the final two quarters as officials tightened up the game after a physical first half.

Kirkwood went to the foul line just 13 times in the second half and made matters worse by hitting just five of them. The final stats show a 39-26 advantage for Troy in free-throw attempts for the game. Kirkwood may have shot 13 fewer free throws, but they compounded the problem by making just 13-for-26 from the line.

The Pioneers were in foul trouble all night long, with two players fouling out and three more finishing with four fouls. They shot 14 fewer free throws than Troy in the second half and made just five shots from the charity stripe in the second half compared to 20 free throw makes for Troy.

"Is that what it was?" said Troy coach Ryan Meyers. "When you get the lead like that and they are calling it tight, it's nice to be able to have the guard play that we have and be able to spread the floor and make them foul us and hit our free throws.

"It was a tough game to officiate and you certainly give the officials credit. It was physical in the first half and they said they wanted to come out and call it tighter."

The Trojans used a 9-1 run late in the third quarter to turn a tie game into a 49-41 advantage. Naturally, six of the nine Troy points came on free throws. The Trojans coasted down the stretch, keeping a lead of at least six points the entire fourth quarter.

Clark Randall led Kirkwood with 15 points, nine of which came on three 3-pointers. Guard Myles Artis added 14 points for the Pioneers, who fall into the loser's bracket quarterfinals against Lindbergh at 2 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

"They came out in the second half and did a really good job defending us and that's why we got beat," Gunn said. "They defended us and we weren't able to do what we wanted and then we didn't hit the free throws we took.

"Now we got Lindbergh (Wednesday). They are really good. We were in their league forever so we know them and now we have to find a way to come back and play in a game you don't want to play and reach down inside."

Asked if any positives could be taken from his team's performance Tuesday, Gunn paused before finally saying, "I really don't know."