FEDORA

[PointGuard]

2021-2022 SEASON

Perry Winkle, Athletic Director:

SF Bart Rose has decided to transfer. Coach Aura says he was pretty much a loner so hadn’t fit in well with the players or coaches. His playing time had been very limited in the two seasons he had been here, so I imagine he also is looking to get picked up by a program that can offer him more.

Coach Aura says that means they may try to pick up two rather than one transfer player in June.

TRANSFERS

Coach Frederick Aura:

We aggressively pursued transfer players in June. We were focused totally on trying to pick up high quality players. We were more successful than I had expected. While we missed out on one high flyer, we landed two very talented guys:

C Donny Flint, 6-9, Soph, who as a freshman at Butler, averaged 13.2 ppg and 9.9 rpg. He was the Big East Freshman Player of the Year and made their All-Conference 1st Team. He’s very talented and is a great scorer and rebounder and an excellent defender who gets a lot of blocks and steals. He’s got the skills to really be a huge force for us. We were able to snag him because we’ve heard that he can be a disruptive force within the team so others may have been afraid to take a chance on him. Hopefully we can keep that in check. Otherwise, he may leave us after a single season of play. We plan to work to improve Flint’s GPA during this coming year while he’s unable to play for us. He’s from Aurora, Indiana.

SG Dominick Collins, 6-0 Soph, who as a freshman at USC came in off the bench to average 3.5 ppg, 1.5 apg, and 1.4 rpg. He’s still developing but has outstanding potential as an outside scorer with excellent ball handling and passing skillspaly so he may PG rather than SG for us. For his size he’s a great rebounder. His defensive instincts and abilities are strong although still developing. He’s from Battle Creek, Michigan.

FYI: Bart Rose transferred to Western Carolina. I called and congratulated Bart and also called Javon Thompson, the head coach for the Catamounts, to provide praise about Bart.

[PointGuard]

Recruiting

1st Assistant Coach Omar McDade

We only purchased the basic scouting report for the Atlantic East and will only attend the Big Apple Showcase in order to conserve recruiting funds this year. We have 4 scholarships to fill and would like to land 2 PG’s and a big man and take the best available regardless of position for the final scholarship.

Our efforts to land two strong performers during the transfer period together with what we spent on the scouting report and the upcoming recruiting camp have reduced our remaining recruiting budget to $39,800. That’s better than last year (when we spent a lot on scouting reports and attending camps) but we have twice as many scholarships to fill this year than we did last year. We’re focusing on recruits within our region this year rather than doing the shot-gun approach for the entire country we employed last year so that will help conserve our funds.

When the recruiting season actually began we made slow progress in getting recruits to be interested in Towson. But we had a reason number showing some interest, but few showing a lot of interest, when September rolled around and we began offering scholarships. We lost out on several since we were shooting pretty high.

But in late September we got our first verbal commitment from Copley Dwiggins, a 6-1 SG, who is beginning his senior year at Winters Mill High School in Westminster, MD. Dwiggins is presently ranked the #281 best recruit, but he has been substantially higher ranked earlier this year. He’s a great outside shooter and scorer but needs to work on the aspects of his game. His high school coach says he isn’t a leader but doesn’t cause problems. He averaged 18.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.4 bpg, and 0.7 spg last season. We’re hoping he matures and develops well in his last season of high school ball so that he can contribute as soon as he arrives at Towson.

Then in late October, Matt Faust, a 6-1 PG who is at a junior college in Gainesville, Georgia, gave us a verbal commitment. Faust is the 337th ranked recruit, but also has been ranked higher earlier this year. He’s a good shooter from outside and is an adept passer and ball handler. He also is strong defensively. Last season he averaged 14.1 ppg, 3.0 apg, 3.4 rpg, 0.5 bpg, and 1.4 spg in his first season at the JC. Since we’re losing both of our PG’s to graduation after this season, hopefully Matt can step right in to direct our team.

Still 2 scholarships to fill. We’re working hard on two guys and have a bunch of others still on our list, but really don’t expect any scholarship acceptance until the spring.

[PointGuard]

Who’s Starting:

Coach Frederick Aura

Practice in October and early November went extremely smoothly.

Our starting lineup is exactly what we figured it would be before practice began:

PG Adrian Brown, 6-0 senior, 9.5 ppg and 3.5 apg last season
SG Bill Thomas, 6-1 senior, 9.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, and 2.5 apg last season
SF Wayne Burrough, 6-6 sophomore, 10.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg last season
PF Deon Penn, 6-6 junior, JC player last season where he averaged 17.4 ppg and 8.5 rpg
C Melvin Steele, 6-7 senior, 8.8 ppg and 4.8 rpg last season

Primary subs:

PG Mateen Carroll, 6-1 senior, 5.1 ppg and 2.9 apg last season
SG Ryan Taylor, 6-1 junior, 6.7 ppg and 1.6 rpg last season
SF Ross Davis, 6-3 sophomore, 3.2 ppg and 1.6 rpg last season
SF Keiron Stone, 6-7 sophomore, 3.0 ppg and 0.3 rpg last season
PF Jason Vickers, 6-7 junior, 8.1 ppg and 3.5 rpg last season
C Jason Miner, 6-6 junior, 7.1 ppg and 4.0 rpg last season

Walk-ons:

PG Alex Haywood, 6-2 junior, 0.8 ppg and 0.6 apg last season
SF Matt Heard, 6-6 senior, 0.7 ppg and 0.7 rpg last season

Ineligible transfer players:

Dominick Collins, 6-0 sophomore, transferred from Southern California (3.5 ppg and 1.5 apg as freshman)
Donny Flint, 6-9 sophomore, transferred from Butler (13.2 ppg and 9.9 rpg as freshman, Big East Freshman of the Year and Big East All-Conference 1st Team)

While we’re still not a strong team, I think our overall player talent level and depth are gradually improving. I’m looking forward to the upcoming season. Hopefully we won’t have any serious injuries this year like we’ve had the past 2 seasons. This season 5 of our 11 pre-conference games are at home, so that’s a scheduling improvement as well.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 14, 2021: Towson Tigers (0-0) @ NC-Central Eagles (0-0)

2nd Assistant Coach Michael Snoddy

Although we jumped out to a small lead, we looked ragged in the first half. Poor execution and a general lack of cohesiveness. But we were able to build a 36-28 advantage halftime advantage. In the locker room Coach Aura challenged the team to step up the level of their play in the 2nd half.

The team responded and opened a solid lead early in the 2nd half. Some good passing led to a lot of open shots. We ended up hitting 54% of our FG’s and 48% of our 3’s and we held a 17-10 turnover advantage. We resoundingly whipped the Eagles 85-65.

SG Billy Thomas had the best game of his career here. Hehit 9 of 13 FG’s including 7 of 9 three pointers and finished with 27 points. PF Deon Penn scored 19 points in his first game for the Tigers and SF Wayne Burrough added 11.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 17, 2021: Eastern Michigan Eagles (0-1) @ Towson Tigers (1-0)

Article in the Baltimore Sun sports pages:

Towson and Eastern Michigan in Tight Battle

There were 17 lead changes and 9 ties throughout the first half as neither Towson nor Eastern Michigan went on a run the entire 20 minutes. The biggest lead in the half was 4 points. Towson was outshot 44% to 39% but was +3 in rebounds and had a 10-7 turnover advantage. The Tigers went to the locker room with a slim 34-31 lead. C Melvin Steele had 8 points and 5 rebounds in the half to lead Towson.

The first 15 minutes of the second half were a repeat of the first half. The score remained close and the lead shifted back-and-forth. But then the Tigers opened a bit of a lead and held onto it until the end. The 77-67 victory made it sound like Towson was more dominant than the Tigers were. Had Towson not scored 12 more points at the free throw line than the Eagles, the outcome may well have been different. There were 32 lead changes and 16 ties in the game. The win improved the Tigers’ record to 2-0. Towson and NC-Wilimington are the only two teams in the Colonial Athletic Association that have no losses after just two games into the season,

Towson’s C Melvin Steele had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. SG Billy Thomas scored 11, SF Wayne Burrough added 10, and PF Deon Penn had 9 points and 8 rebounds. Eastern Michigan’s PG Luther Hill popped in 21 points.

“Eastern Michigan gave us everything we could handle tonight,” said Towson’s head coach Frederick Aura. He added, “Melvin Steele came up big for us and we got scoring from throughout the lineup. Our interior game was good. We had 26 points in the paint and 9 second chance points. I also was pleased with how we controlled the boards.” Towson had 40 rebounds to 31 for the Eagles.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 21, 2021: Central Florida Knights (2-1) @ Towson Tigers (2-0)

Deon Penn, PF

Things are a lot different here in Maryland that back in Oregon where I’m from. Old buildings in the Beaver State are maybe a hundred years old. Here old buildings are 250 years old. It’s kind of cool to have a lot more African-Americans here than the suburbs of Portland. On my high school there I was the only black player and on my JC team there were just 2 of us. 12 of the 15 guys on the Tigers are black. And we have a black head coach and a black 1st assistant coach.

I was really worried about the academics here, but so far I’m doing OK…maybe a B- average overall. So I’m not sweating it so much now even though the coach Iacona keeps on me to study more. From what I hear from the other guys, if I get my GPA up over 3.0 they lay off ya.

I’m liking playing for Towson. I’m still the “new guy on the block” but they’re a good bunch of guys. We’ve only played 2 games but I’m averaging 14 ppg even though I haven’t shot well yet so hopefully that will improve. I’m also working to do better on the boards…averaging 6.0 rpg now, but want to be pulling down more. Coach Fed has complimented me since I’ve averaged 3 apg. Coach Fed is a cool guy. He brings in his 2 boys sometimes. They’re pretty good ball players for being so young. Coach McDade says Coach Fed, who he calls “Crash”, was a terror on the boards so I hope to pick up some pointers from him. We also have Donny Flint, a transfer player from Butler who has to sit out the year, practicing with us and he’s a beast on the boards. Wanting to pick his brain some, but he’s a bit of a hard nut to crack. As a freshman at Butler he had some good stats, but rumor is that no one there was sorry to see him transfer. We need to keep him happy here because I’m pretty sure he can give us a huge boost when he’s eligible to play.

Central Florida has 3 guys scoring in double figures. SG Lamont Jacobson is averaging 17.3 ppg, PG Troy Brewer has scored 14.3 ppg, and PF Trent Ostler is averaging 10.7 ppg. Ostler and James Sasser, his replacement at PF, together are averaging 17 ppg and over 11 rpg so I’m going to have my hands full trying to shut them down. The Knights’ SF Michael Cornell has hit for 9.3 ppg. Their only position not to be producing offensively is at C. The Knights are the best team we’ve played thus far. Coach Fed has been on us to come out strong. We haven’t been able to do that in the games we’ve played. He says we keep starting slow and when we go up a good team, they’ll bury us. Matt Heard, a walk on, has this chant in Chinese that he uses to psych us up before games. It’s weird but cool. Matt’s a really friendly guy, and from the bench he does a lot of cheering us on.

We roughed up the Knights in the first half with a solid defense and an opportunistic offense. By the time the buzzer sounded ending the half we were on top 47-28. SF Wayne Burrough topped our scoring with 12 points.

In the 2nd half, Coach Fed told us to play some lock down defense. We slowed things down and plugged up the middle. The effort we put into defense took it out of us offensively so neither team scored much in the 2nd half. We came away with a decisive 67-52 thumping of Central Florida to improve our record to 3-0. We totally dominated the boards, 40-24.

SF Wayne Burrough finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds. C Melvin Steele added 12 points and 8 rebounds. I shot poorly but scored 8 points. But I was happy with my defense since the Knights PF’s totaled just 7 points, and I had 3 steals and a block. Coach Fed gave us all a pat on the back because of our good defense.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun

Towson Player Wins Award

The Colonial Athletic Association announced their first weekly awards yesterday. Towson’s Billy Thomas was named the Association’s Player of the Week. Thomas, the Tigers’ senior shooting guard, scored 39 points and had 6 assists and 4 steals in Towson’s two wins that past week. He hit 10 of 15 field goals, 8 of 10 three pointers, and was 10 for 10 at the free throw line. Coach Frederick Aura said, “Billy really deserved this award. He’s a hard worker who’s improved each year he’s been here. He also has a tremendous personality that strengthens our team chemistry.”

[PointGuard]

Nov. 24, 2021: Colorado State Rams (1-1) @ Towson Tigers (3-0)

Rob Masters, Graduate Assistant Coach

After graduating from Radford University in Virginia and playing ball for the Highlanders, I came to Towson for graduate work to get my MS in Health Sciences. My graduate studies are going very well here. And I was excited when Coach Fed brought me on as a graduate assistant coach. I mainly work with the interior players in practice but also on our zone defenses. During games, I jot down notes for Coach Fed to consider after the game.

Plan for defensive pressure: Focus on PG Chad Robertson…he’s really a 6-8 SF but is handling the PG chores well for the Rams this season. Hitting 52% of his FGA’s and 46% of his 3PA’s, averaging 15.5 ppg and 5.5 apg. When he’s off the court, depending on who’s hot, switch to SF Mel Camby who is averaging 13.5 ppg or PG Aaron Johnson who’s averaging 9.0 ppg while playing 10.5 mpg and is hitting 70% of his FGA’s and 80% of his 3’s. The Rams have been hitting a high percentage of their shots so far this season, so we’re going to start with M-2-M…and only go to our zone defense if we are unable to shut them down with M-2-M. Press often to try to wear them down.

Plan for our offense: Since they like a slow-pace, we’ll try speeding things up hoping to throw them off-balance. Take what they give us on offense, but work the ball inside if we can. Since they mainly use M-2-M, do a lot of screening to free up shooters.

1st Half:
19:11—Robinson has put up 2 shots, but both tightly guarded by Brown making Robinson 0 for 2.
18:38—Nice block by Steele on inside shot by Adams.
18:32—Steele scores his 2nd basket making it 4-0.
17:13—We pick off passes on 2 consecutive possessions by the Rams and then force them to throw abll away on their next possession. Stingy defense.
16:58—Penn hits his 2nd straight jumper making it 8-0.
15:15—Rams’ Camby knocks down his 2nd triple cutting our lead to 8-6. Change double teaming to him.
14:36—Penn steals pass and makes great outlet pass to Thomas for driving layup making it 12-6.
14:21—5th turnover in just over 5 minutes of play by Colorado State. Tight defense continuing.
13:51—Unable to get ball inside on Rams’ 3-2 zone, but Davis knocks down a 3 making it 15-6.
13:14—Colorado State breaks our press and scores easily on breakaway making it 17-9.
12:24—Our defense forces 30-second clock violation.
12:06—Subs continuing to shine as Carroll hits a 3 making it 22-9.
11:25—Vickers intercepts pass and Carroll scores again on 14 foot jumper to make it 24-9.
11:07—Taylor picks off a pass and upcourts it to Carroll for easy layin making it 26-9. Defense has now forced Rams to make 8 turnovers.
6:37—Following a 3 by Brown and a jumper by Thomas, Colorado State forced to call time out as our lead balloons to 35-11.
4:15—Sloppy play on both ends of the floor by us allows Rams to cut lead to 37-21.

Half-time: We lead 48-31. Our defense in final 9 minutes was porous. We hit 54% of our FGA’s and 63% of our 3PA’s throughout the half while limiting Colorado State’s shooting to 38% enn’s 9 points and 4 rebounds. Camby had 16 for the Rams…need to tighten defense on him and get Burrough driving to force him to foul.

2nd Half:
15:00—Great defense makes it possible for us to forge ahead 54-34.
12:19—Good ball movement inside and outside frees up Davis for nice 3 pointer to make it 61-39.
10:55—Penn fakes out defender for good drive to basket but blows a dunk.
8:28—Another good drive by Penn and he scores this time making it 67-43.
6:47—Beautiful 3 by Vickers making it 74-47.
5:32—Brown hits a long 3 after blocking a shot by the Rams to increase lead to 77-47.
4:31—Coach Fed emptied the bench including playing walk-ons.

Final Score: Towson-88, Colorado State-52.

Team Stats: We outshoot the Rams 52% to 32% and hit 62% of our 3’s. We held a 38-32 rebounding advantage and made just 10 turnovers compared to 17 by the Rams.

Top Scorers: PF Deon Penn—17 pts, 10 rebounds; C Melvin Steele-14 pts; PG Adrian Brown-10 pts, 2 stls, 3 blks; PG Mateen Carroll-10 pts. For Colorado State, SF Mel Camby scored 22 pts but only hit 6 of 15 from the field although knocking down 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.

[PointGuard]

Harry Iacona, 3rd Assistant Coach:

All but 2 of our players now have GPA’s over 3.0. We have put Deon Penn on a study table and have gotten a tutor for Donny Flint.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 28, 2021: Towson Tigers (4-0) @ North Dakota Fighting Hawks (1-3)

Jason Vickers, PF

The University of North Dakota’s original nickname was the Flickertails, but it was changed to the “Sioux” in 1930, then the “Fighting Sioux”, and then after years of controversy it became the “Fighting Hawks” in 2015.

Some would consider going to Grand Forks, ND in the winter simply foolhardy. We’re freezing our tails off, so we’d better win or I’ll be concurring about it being foolhardy.

Deon Penn (who is starting as usual at PF) needs to keep Ted Marlow in check since he leads North Dakota in scoring with 15.3 ppg. Tonight Mateen Carroll is starting at PG for us rather than Adrian Brown. Mateen has been shooting extremely well so Coach Fed decided he’d earned a start. Mateen is also good at feeding out assists.

Mateen’s start was short-lived. He picked up 2 fouls in the first 3 minutes and had to sit. It looked like the cold weather had us frozen in the first 6 minutes of the game. We fell behind 17-6 and we had 6 turnovers and had been called for 5 fouls. We got our offense going but we simply had no defense and fell behind by as much as 18 points and trailed 50-38 at the break. The refs sent the Fighting Hawks to the line 23 times compared to just 10 times that we got to shoot foul shots. Coach Fed tore us up in the locker room because of our 10 turnovers. PG Adrian Brown scored 9 points and I had 7 to lead our offense. North Dakota’s C Terry Akins dropped in 12 points.

Not a lot to say about the 2nd half. We made some runs, cutting the lead to under 10 (as close as 7), but then the Fighting Hawks would roar back to take a solid double-digit lead (as much as 18 points). We ended up losing 89-80. We just never were in this game. We hit 51% of our shots, but they knocked down 53% of theirs. We turned the ball over 22 times.

PG Adrian Brown had 14 points while PF Deon Penn, SF Wayne Burrough, and SG Billy Thomas each had 11 points. Penn also had 10 rebounds. I finished with 9 points as did C Melvin Steele.