FEDORA

[PointGuard]

Nov. 17, 2020: Towson Tigers (1-0) @ Nicholls State Colonels (0-1)

SF Wayne Burrough:

Now that I have a game under my belt, I’m not as nervous as I was before our first game.
C Melvin Steele-9 points in the first 1:36 of play to put us ahead 9-3.
7:31 Nicholls State takes 25-24 lead.
Halftime score: Nicholls State-43, Towson-32.
We were outshot 48% to 35% on FG’s and 44% to 10% on 3’s. The Colonels went to the line 7 more times than we did.
We scored Ok in the 2nd half, but Ncholls State burned us the entire 2nd half with hot shooting.
We got slammed 95-77.
The Colonels hit 54% of their FG’s and 57% of their 3’s. Just downright poor defense by us.
Leading scorers: C Melvin Steele-15 points, PF Jason Minor and me-10 points each. I also had 8 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Nov.21, 2020: Towson Tigers (1-1) @ Omaha Mavericks (2-1)

2nd Assistant Coach Michael Snoddy:

Tonight we have the 3rd of 7 straight road games to start our season. This pre-conference schedule stinks. Coach Aura has presented it to the players as a “challenge”…one that is up to them to overcome. My challenge is my back. The bed at last night’s hotel was hard as a board and I slept badly and my back is now killing me.

The Mavericks’ PF Troy Finley has been hitting a high percentage of his shots. So we hope to at least only give up contested shots rather than open ones.

Eric Shannon got called for fouls on the Mavericks first two possessions. Hope this doesn’t portend quick whistles from the refs all night. We don’t score until the 15:20 mark and then just from the foul line. At the 2nd media time out, we trailed 17-4 and were oh-for-nine from the field. Coach Aura tore into the guys during the time out, but the players seemed unfazed. Before we finally scored from the field with 8:07 remaining in the half, we had fallen behind 29-5 with Omaha score 21 of their points at the free throw line. 14 fouls had been called against us and only 5 against the Mavericks. It was obvious this was going to be a long night. The first half mercifully finally ends. While our offense finally picked up some we still trailed 42-24. We hit just 26% of our FG attempts, got pounded 25-10 on the boards by Omaha, and the refs had called us for 16 fouls which put the Mavericks on the line 28 times where they scored 25 points. We allowed Troy Finley to score 12 points for Omaha but half of those came at the free throw line. Our top scorer was Jason Vickers who got 7 points coming off the bench, but also picked up 3 fouls. Our five starters combined to score just 10 points.

Eric Shannon was injured midway through the 2nd half. Our other SG Ryan Taylor fouled out a minute later. With 4-1/2 minutes remaining in the game we had cut the lead to 10 points, but that was as close as we could get and we ended up losing 75-60.

PF Jason Vickers led our scoring with 11 points with PF Jason Minor adding 9. Omaha’s Troy Finley fired in 24 points.

After the game our worst fears were realized when Eric Shannon’s injury was confirmed to be a torn ACL which will sideline him the rest of the year.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 24, 2020: Towson Tigers (1-2) @ Montana State Bobcats (1-2)

Ryan Taylor:

We traveled north from Nebraska to Montana for another road game. Due to Eric Shannon’s injury I’m in the starting lineup at SG, but hate that it hate that Eric, who is a senior, will not be able to play another collegiate game.

The Bobcats hit two quick 3’s putting us down by 6 but we fought back to take a 13-12 lead with 12 minutes to go in the half. The remainder of the half was a dogfight but we took a 41-38 lead to the locker room. Little used Bart Rose came off the bench to play 3 different positions (SF, SG, and PF) and led our scoring with 7 points. We let SF Troy Anderson score 15 points, so need to put a stop of that guy in the 2nd half.

We couldn’t get the ball in the hoop in the 2nd half and the refs called fouls on us but not against the Bobcats. We therefore slowly slipped behind and then let Montana State take the game away from us in the latter stages. We dropped the game 78-64 as we were outshot 46% to 35% and scored 7 less points at the foul line that did Montana State.

I had a terrible game scoring just 3 points and hitting only 1 of 8 FG attempts. If I’m to hold onto the starting SG job, I’ll need to do a lot better with Billy Thomas coming back from an injury very soon. SF Wayne Burrough scored 12 and PG Adrian Brown added 10. But the Bobcat’s Troy Anderson bombed in 24 points.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 28, 2020: Towson Tigers (1-3) @ Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (0-4)

Harry Iacona, 3rd Assistant Coach

7 straight road games! We won the first one and I thought maybe we’d be OK, but now we’ve had 3 straight losses. Time to turn things around.

I’ve been leapfrogging ahead of the team so I could check out our upcoming opponents. Not a helluva lot of fun since controls are still pretty tight due to Covid-19 restrictions. Tonight there were no opponents to scout, so I’m on the bench at the game.

Another slow start put us down by 8 points after just 3 minutes of play. That meant we had to play catch up ball. We got it close over and over but could never get the lead and then the Golden Eagles pulled away late to finish the half ahead of us 36-23. Poor shooting and 11 turnovers on our part. None of our players scored more than 4 points in the half. Tennessee Tech’s PG B__ Dumic dropped in 10 against us.

We struggled throughout most of the 2nd half to catch up and finally with 6 minutes to go Andre Brown hit a 12 foot jumper on which he was fouled and he sunk the free throw to tie the game at 50-50. We were able to move ahead by a few points but the refs kept the Golden Eagles in the game with picky fouls against us. Coach Aura got his 2nd Technical with 3 minutes to go and Omar took over coaching the team. That T got our team aroused enough to overcome the refs. With 1-1/2 minutes to go the game was tied at 62-62. Then with a minute left, Ryan Taylor zipped a sharp pass inside to Jason Miner who threw down a slam to give us a 2 point lead. Neither team could score so with 15 seconds on the clock, Tennessee Tech was forced to foul. Ryan Taylor made hit both free throws and we went on to escape with a 66-64 victory.

Although Tennessee Tech scored 6 more points at the free throw line, we shot well in the 2nd half to pull our FG percentage up to 48% for the game compared to 42% by the Golden Eagles.

Wayne Burrough scored 11 and had 9 rebounds, Melvin Steele scored 10, and Jason Vickers and Ryan Taylor both added 9.

Coach Aura was pumped up after the game and heaped praise on the team for their comeback win.

[bestbrother]

Catching up with this one, I like how you come at each game from a different perspective, keeps it fresh and lets you get more connected to those involved in the story.

[PointGuard]

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 1, 2020: Towson Tigers (2-3) @ Tulane Green Wave (3-2)

Coach Omar McDade, 1st Assistant

Pregame:

It was fun coaching the team for the final 3 minutes of our last game. I had to thank Crash (Coach Aura) for setting it up for me by his getting two T’s. He said the win was all mine and said maybe he needs to be kicked out of more games.
There’s a step up in our opposition tonight as we take on Tulane. The Green Wave have won all 3 of their home games this season with ease. SF Doug Flannery has hit 65% of his FG attempts and 62% of his 3P attempts. He’s going to be tough to stop.
After a full year of rehab for a torn MCL, SG Billy Thomas is back! He might be rusty, but we’re going to start him tonight to get him right back into the game and see how he does. He’ll share playing time with Ryan Taylor. Billy can also put some time in as PG when needed so that added flexibility is a big plus.

1st Half:

Turnovers on our first two possessions resulted in breakaway layins for the Green Wave. We fell behind by 6 but PF Jason Miner scored our first 7 points and PG Adrian Brown sunk a 3 to put us on top 10-8 with 15:12 remaining in the half. We played well and stayed ahead by a small margin until Tulane hit a 3 to recapture the lead 29-26 with 5 minutes to go. As the half ended, the Green Wave hit a 3 that put them on top 41-35. Jason Miner finished the half with 12 points and 4 boards. We we let the Green Wave hit 56% of their FG attempts, but held Tulane’s Doug Flannery to 5 points on 2 of 9 from the field.

2nd Half:

Even though we made some minor runs, Tulane gradually pulled away from us in the 2nd half as they continued to hit a high percentage of their shots and the refs layered foul calls on us. After trailing by 15 we made a late run that brought us to with 3 points at 77-74 with 3-1/2 minutes to go. But Tulane withstood the onrush and slapped an 84-77 defeat on our shoulders.

PostGame:

We were outshot 55% to 43% and out-rebounded 34-26 plus Tulane got to the foul line more often and scored 5 more points there that did we. We held a 16-10 turnover advantage and hit 10 of 19 from beyond the arc. Four of our starters scored in double figures led by PF Jason Miner’s 19 points with PG Adrian Brown scoring 12, and SG Billy Thomas and SF Wayne Burrough both adding 11. We held Doug Flannery to just 11 points but five players on Tulane scored in double figures. Had we not been outplayed in the middle 10 minutes of the 2nd half, we would have had a good chance of winning this game.

Tough to lose another one, but it was nice to see Billy Thomas have a solid game. Hopefully this will be a springboard to bigger and better things for him.

[PointGuard]

Spencer Meadows, President of the Tigers Boosters Club:

Because Towson’s Boosters Club isn’t huge, we’re close knit. Besides sitting together at games, we also have quite a few parties, activities and various types of get-togethers. I moved to Towson 25 years ago and began regularly attending the college’s games. I joined the Boosters Club almost 20 years ago and after retiring four years ago from being an engineering firm’s COO, I was elected as the club’s president.

We’ve gone through some tough years with the basketball team. Too many losing seasons. We’re optimistic that Coach Aura can turn things around and build a winner. My assessment is that his year 2 team is solid but not great. No real stars. But any one of the starting five plus 3 or 4 of the reserves can take the lead for any given game. We have yet to see the team perform since they’ve played all their games thus far on the road. They finally will get a home game next week when Ball State visits. We’ll be there to cheer them on.

The team has a good sub for each of the five positions. PF seems to be the team’s strongest position with Jason Miner and Jason Vickers together averaging over 16 ppg and 6.5 rpg. Freshman SF Wayne Burrough has been the top scorer on the team thus far, averaging 10.3 ppg and also pulling down 5.8 rpg. He’s ably backed up by Ross Davis. Billy Thomas looks like he could be what the team needs at SG with Ryan Taylor serving as a solid reserve. The two JC transfers, Adrian Brown and Mateen Carroll are doing a good job at PG. At the Center position, Melvin Steele continues to start but Nick McPherson, coming off the bench, is just as strong as Steele. The two have combined to average 13.2 ppg and 7.8 rpg. Bart Rose has played limited minutes, primarily at SF but also at SG and PF, and has shown some good scoring capability.

This team only has two seniors graduating after this season, Nick McPherson and Eric Shannon. Shannon sustained a season and career ending injury in the team’s second game of this season. So that portends good things for next year’s squad, particularly since they’ve got a high quality JC interior player who has signed a Letter of Intent to join the Tigers next season.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 5, 2020: Towson Tigers (2-4) @ Santa Clara Broncos (3-4)

Baltimore Sun Sports Section Article:

TOWSON’S LONG ROAD TRIP ENDS

Going up against the Santa Clara Broncos last night, the Towson University men’s basketball team finished a tough opening of their season with their 7th straight away game.

The Tigers started strong and took a 6 point lead early in the half, but the Broncos shot there way back and th two teams battled out the half through 6 lead changes and 4 ties. Towson outshot Santa Clara 52% to 49% and hit 6 of 11 from beyond the arc, but 9 turnovers allowed Santa Clara to take a 44-42 lead when they hit a 3 with 1 second left in the half. SG Billy Thomas led the scoring for Towson with 8 points while Jason Fuller dropped in 12 points for the Broncos.

The two teams continued to keep things close throughout the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. But then Santa Clara pulled ahead by as much as 8 points. The Tigers cut the lead to 3 at 73-70 with 3:40 remaining. With 2 minutes left Towson was behind by just 2 but Santa Clara then drained a 3 pointer on their next possession. From there the Broncos countered each score by the Tigers. Towson went down to an 87-80 defeat. Turnovers were the difference in the game with Towson making 15 to just 9 by Santa Clara.

Towson’s scoring was led by SG Billy Thomas who hit for 16 with C Melvin Steele scoring 13 and SF Wayne Burrough adding 10 points and 8 rebounds. Santa Clara was led by SG Jason Fuller’s 24 points.

Coach Frederick Aura said, “Our guys played tough tonight, but Santa Clara hit over 50% of their shots and just kept us on our heels in the latter stages of the game. The travel the past three weeks has been brutal. I hope to never again see a schedule like we’ve endured to start our season this year.”

The Tigers will finally get a home game on Thursday when they play Ball State at SECO Arena.

[PointGuard]

December 8, 2020: Ball State Cardinals (2-5) @ Towson Tigers (2-5)

Doc the Tiger



This is me. I’m Towson’s mascot and finally able to try to help the team since they are home for tonight’s game against Ball State. I move throughout the arena before and during the game, both entertaining the crowd and trying to fire up the fans. The little kids love me and some of the college coeds do also.

The team’s 2-5 record probably make you think they stink, but winning on the road is tough. They better win here tonight, though. Ball State is no pushover. Four of their five losses have been against teams from power conferences including two losses to teams in the top 10 in the polls. Checking the stats the Cardinals score less that our team but have a much stronger defense.

Finals are just starting here at Towson University, so the student section isn’t packed and our lackluster record hasn’t brought in a lot of other fans, so I’m going to have to go all out to get those here to raise a raucous and make it tough for Ball State.

Our team comes out playing well and that helps me get the crowd to cheer them on. Our cheer squad is working hard also. We’re on top 17-11 at the second media timeout. But led by Carlton Sessoms, Ball State gets hot and makes a game out of it. The two teams play evenly throughout the last 10 minutes of the half with Towson coming out on top 40-37 at the break. PG Adrian Brown knocks down 13 points in the half, but is matched by SF Carlton Sessoms for Ball State. I’m guessing that Coach Aura is on his team in the locker room to get them in the 2nd half to shut down the Cardinals’ hot shooting.

I’m sweating up a storm inside this costume, but have to interact with our band to do some dancing during the halftime intermission to entertain everyone. We also have some give-aways for the fans before play resumes.

The Tigers are unable to temper the hot shooting of the Cardinals, and midway through the 2nd half the Tigers trail 64-53. Our team is unable to get back into the game and goes down to a disappointing 82-72 loss.

While the Tigers dropped in 50% of their shots, they let Ball State hit 60% of their FG attempts.

PG Adrian Brown scored 15 and dished out 6 assists and SG Billy Thomas added 11 points.

I’m worn out and just want to go home and have a beer and then go to bed.