FEDORA

[PointGuard]

Tiger Blog:

Towson visited North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks (12-10, 8-3) so entered the game as huge underdogs. The Seahawks have 4 players averaging in double figures, led by C Bryan Borman’s 21.1 ppg and 7.1 rpg. NC-Wilmington whipped the Tigers 82-62 earlier this season when playing in Towson, so that bode poorly for Towson as well.

On the first possession of the game, Borman cut through Towson’s defense to score on a thunderous dunk. He scored the Seahawks’ first 6 points of the game. Towson hit just 1 of their first 9 shots and had 5 turnovers leading to a 17-5 deficit after 7 minutes of play. After the midpoint of the half, Towson went on an 11-0 run to close the gap to 25-22 with 6:49 to go til intermission. The refs then repeatedly whistled the Tigers for fouls which made it possible for NC-Wilmington to pull away again. When the buzzer sounded, Towson trailed 37-31. The Seahawks were +4 in rebounds, +3 in turnovers and had gone to the line 10 more times and scored 8 more points on free throws. PG Matt Settles led the scoring for Towson with 7 points.

Towson hung with NC-Wilmington early in the 2nd half but was unable to catch up. The Seahawks then scored 11 unanswered points to jump ahead 70-52 with 8 minutes remaining. The Tigers were unable to close the gap and lost convincingly 80-64. The Seahawks outshot the Tigers 44% to 36% and had 15 turnovers to 23 by Towson.

Leading scorers for the Tigers were: SF Eric Shannon with 15 and PG Matt Settles and C Nick McPherson who each scored 12.

“We’re just not shooting well,” said Coach Aura. “And tonight we played sloppily and were simply careless. There’s no excuse for making 23 turnovers.”

The loss dropped the Tigers’ CAA record to 4-8. The Tigers are now alone in 9th place. The only good thing is that 4 of their last 6 games are at home.

[PointGuard]

Jason Vickers, injured PF

My broken foot is mending and the Doc says I should be cleared to play in about 3 weeks. That would mean I’d miss the regular season but be ready to go for the conference tournament.

I’ve really missed playing basketball and am raring to go as soon as I can. In the meantime Coach Fed’s kids have latched onto me whenever they are able to get to the college. They look at me as their big brother. Since I’ve had some free time due to this injury, I have been helping coach Omari and Malik’s youth basketball teams. It’s been fun and both kids are stars. Omari is an 8th grader so will be going to high school next year. I think he’ll not only make the varsity team, but very well could be a starter. The kid has some great moves. Malik, who is 12, is also very talented and is so competitive that he’s always trying to best his big brother. I just wish I’d been as good as they are when I was 12 and 14.

[PointGuard]

Carla Montaz, fan

Been coming to Towson games for 15 years. Had high hopes for the team and the new coach this season. But those have been dashed. Best we can hope for at this point is just for a little improvement at the end of the season. Howard, my husband, went to William & Mary so he’s a Tribe fan. Therefore we’ll be opposing each other in our cheering tonight. I hope I get the last cheer.

Would be nice to see the Tigers knock of William & Mary since they’re sitting alone in 3rd place with a 7-5 conference record and likely feels they will walk over Towson.

The two teams battled to a draw in the first 5 or 6 minutes, but then the Tigers pulled away on a series of turnovers by the Tribe to take a 21-12 lead. My excitement and glee probably upset Howard. His consternation increased as Towson’s pressure caused the Tribe to take bad shots. But the Tigers were shooting well and stretched their lead to 19 finishing the half with a 45-26 advantage. C Melvin Steele was the top scorer for Towson with 9 points.

Towson held onto a comfortable lead in the 2nd half but midway through the half William & Mary began chipping away at the lead, making me uncomfortable. With 1-1/2 minutes left it was 67-63 in favor of the Tigers. Howard was rooting on his team and my stomach was tied up in knots. But in the last minute of play, the Tribe had to foul and the Tigers hit most of their free throws. That resulted in a 74-67 victory for Towson. I was finally able to let out a sigh of relief.

Top scorers for Towson were: SG Ryan Taylor-15; C Melvin Steele-13 (he also had 9 rebounds); PG Matt Settles-11; and SG Mitchell Evans-10.

[PointGuard]

Towerlight (Towson University student newspaper) article:

As part of Tiger Tails Week at the University, our basketball team hosted the Elon Phoenix that came into last night’s game with a season record of 8-16 and a conference record of 6-7. Doc the Tiger, our lively mascot, brought in mascots from local professional and other university teams for a series of mascot competitions before the game and during halftime. The larger than usual crowd enjoyed the good-natured competition by the raucous mascots as well as the music and dance provided by various university groups.

Oh yeah! And yes, there was also a basketball game as well. The Tigers, who many feel have underperformed thus far this season, came out flat, missing their first 6 FG attempts and falling behind 9-3. But then Towson caught fire and went on a 16-0 run to go on top 19-9 with 8 minutes remaining in the half. The Tigers continued to dominate and expanded their lead to 42-23 at the break. After the slow start, Towson finished the half having hit 52% of their FG attempts, controlling the boards 17-13 and holding a 10-4 turnover advantage. Jason Miner came off the bench to score 10 points for the Tigers.

The Tigers never let up in the 2nd half, pulled ahead by as much as 26 points, and went on to stomp the Phoenix 76-56. Towson outshot Elon 49% to 40% and made just 8 turnovers compared to 17 by the Phoenix.

SG Ryan Taylor led the scoring with 17 points followed by PF Jason Miner’s 14 points, and Mitchell Evans 11 points.

The win improved Towson’s Colonial Athletic Association record to 6-8 and moved them up into a 4-way tie for 6th place.

“It’s been a tough season, so we really needed to win the two games this week we played at home,” said senior PF Craig Smith.

[PointGuard]

Thoughts of 2nd Assistant Coach Michael Snoddy on game #27:

Going up against Drexel Dragons, 8-17, 7-7.
Need to win one on the road.
SG Riyad Hill is hitting a high percentage of his shots, make him work to try to get shots off.
Goals (1) get off to a good start, (2) then keep pressure on; (3) avoid getting into foul problems.

First half:
Immediate failure on goals 1 and 3: In first 6-3/4 minutes we didn’t score; 0 for 12 from field; 2 turnovers; 5 fouls; -4 in rebounds; fell behind 19-0.
Then failed on goal 2: After trimming lead to 11 points, we failed to maintain pressure and let game get away from us to trail 48-25 at the half.
In first half: Outshot 56% to 29% on FG’s, 36% to 0% on 3’s, 80% to 47% on FT’s; out-rebounded 26-14; let SF Tobarie Flores score 18 points.

Second half:
Unable to really close the gap until late in the game. And then not enough to threaten the Dragons.

Final score: Drexel-81, Towson-69.

If you’re outshot 53% to 43% and out-rebounded 38-29, not much way to win.
Scoring leaders: SG Mitchell Evans-15; SF Eric Shannon-11; C Melvin Steele-11 (plus 6 rebounds).
Dragons’ SG Riyad Hill only scored 7 but dished out 8 assists and grabbed 5 rebound. Let SF Tobarie Flores rip our defense for 29 points for Drexel.
Our record now 14-13 but just 6-9 in conference (4-way tie for 6th place).

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura, late February:

The coronavirus disease has spread rapidly to many countries that didn’t act as proactively as did the U.S. These countries are experiencing an explosion of infections and resulting deaths and their medical facilities and personnel have been overwhelmed. Their economies are either in shambles or teetering on the brink of calamity.

President Otani provided an update on the disease within the U.S. People are being infected and treated. Those who test positive have had their contacts traced so that those people can be tested to cut off exposure to additional people. Testing is also being done on some parts of our population to determine the extent of those who have been infected but are not showing affects, since they can infect others. Because we have been able to contain the disease and keep it in check, we have been able to provide aid and assistance to other countries.

Unfortunately the epidemic in other countries has decimated their economies and is having a trickle down effect on our economy so that our GDP has slowed and some companies have had to lay off workers. Thus far that isn’t severe and the federal government has begun providing assistance to components of our economy and to affected workers. This has prevented severe impact on our population as has occurred in other countries.

Within the hospital, as more is learned about the virus, our protocols and procedures are continually being readjusted to provide the highest level of safety to our staff and patients.

[PointGuard]

Perry Winkle, Athletic Director

This coronavirus is a hassle. We’re having to test the players and coaches frequently. We’re also having to adjust our seating to leave open seats all over to provide for social distancing. We weren’t getting huge crowds anyway so it’s not really affected the number of fans coming to our games, but requires our ticketing manager to work some magic on where people sit and avoid large groups of fans sitting together. Had we not been able to do that, we might have had to play the games without anyone attending.

The conference has had discussions about stopping the season, but fortunately the disease has been controlled enough so that’s not been necessary.

I guess I shouldn’t complain since the entire university has had to make some big changes. Class meeting sizes have been reduced by splitting classes in half with one half attending while the other half does online learning and then the halves alternating. Restrictions have also been imposed on housing and dining. Masks are not completely mandated but encouraged.

Tonight’s game was rather sparsely attended anyway since we hosted the floor mats of the conference: the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens, whose season record is 6-20 and conference record is 4-11. It was important that our guys not give this game away.

The first half was frustrating. We played well offensively but our defense was porous and the lead shifted back and forth. We escaped the half with a slim 40-39 lead. So damned frustrating. We hit 50% of our FG attempts but were a miserable 1 for 10 from beyond the arc. C Nick McPherson scored 8 points and PF Craig Smith scored 7 and pulled down 7 boards.

PG Matt Settles hit two 3’s early in the 2nd half and we opened a 50-43 lead with 16-1/2 minutes to play. Four minutes later we had jumped ahead 61-47 with Settles having scored 12 points thus far in the half. Coach Aura’s substituting kept fresh legs on the court while Delaware’s players were dragging. But in the latter stages of the game we let the Fightin’ Blue Hens close to within 68-62 with 4 minutes to go. We extinguished the threat and finished with a 78-70 victory.

SG Matt Settles had a great game with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists. PF Craig Smith finished with 13 points and 10 boards. SG Ryan Taylor, PG Matt Holmes, and C Nick McPherson each scored 10 points.

The win improved our Colonial Athletic Association record to 7-9, good enough for sole possession of 6th place. We have 2 games remaining before the conference tournament.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun sports page article

ANOTHER BUMP IN THE ROAD

Towson took on the Hofstra Pride last night. The Tigers scored the first 4 points in the game but then went into a scoring drought during which Hofstra spurted ahead 15-4. The Tigers finally began scoring but their 31% shooting kept them from cutting into the lead. They finished the half trailing 38-28. PF Craig Smith was the lone standout for the Tigers, scoring 13 and pulling down 6 rebounds in the half.

The second half was characterized by the same poor shooting by the Tigers. They finished the game having hit just 36% of their shots compared to the Pride’s 53% shooting. After cutting the lead to 9 points, Towson had a meltdown and they sustained a 74-58 drubbing.
PF Craig Smith with 13 points and C Melvin Steele with 10 points were the only Towson players to score in double figures.

The road has been disastrous for the Tigers. They have won just 1 of 9 road games in conference play. When asked about that, Coach Frederick Aura stated, “Road wins are tough for all teams, but we’ve had the tendency to fall behind early and then not had the ability to come back. We just haven’t shot well when playing away. When you shoot under 40%, you most often lose.”

[PointGuard]

Coach Frederick Aura

We're ending our regular season tonight. It’s not gone like I would have liked. Yeah, we’ve won 15 games. But we’ve lost 14. Worse, we’re stuck in the bottom half of the conference standings with a 7 and 10 record. We had 2 season-long injuries, but I can’t blame our record on that. If you look at our team stats, they’re pretty much average and about the same as our opponents. But that’s merely reflective of our overall near .500 record. We don’t have any individual stars. Craig Smith is our leading scorer (11.3 ppg) and rebounder (6.9 rpg). Melvin Steele and Nick McPherson have combined to do a pretty good job at C. Our perimeter players have been adequate but haven’t provided the production we need from those positions.

Tonight the Charleston Cougars are visiting. They are right below us in the conference standings with a 6-11 record and have only won 7 of the 28 games they’ve played throughout the season. But they whipped us by 19 points when we played them earlier this season on their court. The Cougars leading scorer is SF Lee Read who is averaging 11.5 ppg. He scored 15 against us earlier this season, so I’m hopeful we can limit him.

I’m starting 4 seniors, Holmes at PG, Evans at SG, Settles at SF, and Smith at PF, tonight since this will be their final home game for us. But our two regular starters (Ryan Taylor at SG and Eric Shannon at SF) will get their normal minutes.

So here’s how the game went:

We started out 1 for 7 from the field and fell behind 9-2. The Cougars’ C Mike Patterson scored 13 of Charleston’s first 15 points. At that point we trail by 10 and have hit just 2 of 14 FG attempts. Midway through the half we finally woke up and began cutting into their lead. With 5 minutes remaining we went ahead 25-23 on a dunk by Melvin Steele. We continued to play well and took a 42-32 halftime lead. We raised our FG shooting to 45%. We forced Charleston to make 10 turnovers. SF Matt Settles scored 11 to lead us offensively.

Defense predominated early in the 2nd half. Midway through the half we were up by 13. The Cougars made a few mini runs to give us a scare but we were able to pull away again each time. We finished with a 76-60 victory that improved our conference record to 8-10 to place us in a tie with Elon for 6th place. We held an advantage in most team stats, but most importantly we made just 12 turnovers while Charleston had 21.

PF Craig Smith dropped in 16 points and had 8 rebounds. SG Ryan Taylor also scored 16, SF Eric Shannon had 11, and PG Ryan Holmes hit for 10.

Yeah, this is me trying to help my guys find the basket:

[PointGuard]

Harry Iacona, 3rd Assistant Coach:

Colonial Athletic Association play concluded. Here’s the standings:



Our regular season was a mix of positives and negatives. Our season record shows more wins (16) than losses (14). But our conference record is the opposite: 8 wins and 10 losses. Meaning we finished in the lower half in the standings (a tie for 6th). While not torpedoing our season, 2 season-long injuries really depleted our depth. Otherwise though, we only had a few minor injuries.

We had some good individual performances:

PG Ryan Holmes: 18 points in 18 minutes of play against Drexel, hitting all 7 of his FG’s including all 4 of his 3’s.
PG Matt Settles: 19 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds against Delaware.
PG Billy Thomas: In his 2nd and last game before tearing his ACL, 15 points and 4 assists giving us a glimpse of his potential talent.
SG Mitchell Evans: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals in a game against North Carolina-Greensboro.
SG Ryan Taylor: 17 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists against Elon plus playing well enough to start 7 games at the end of the season as a freshman.
SF Bart Rose: Hitting 4 of his 5 FG’s and scoring 10 points coming in off the bench against Delaware.
SF Eric Shannon: 15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block against William & Mary.
PF Craig Smith: Scoring in double figures in 20 games. 18 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block against Northeastern.
PF Jason Vickers: 9 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist against Mississippi Valley.
PF Jason Minor: 12 points (hitting all 6 of his FGA’s), 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal during his 14 minutes of court time against James Madison.
C Nick McPherson: 12 points, 7 rebounds against NC-Wilmington.
C Melvin Steele: Playing just 18 minutes, he scored 22 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and had an assist, 2 steals and a block against Central Michigan.

But most all of our players were inconsistent. Our only truly consistent player was Craig Smith. He scored in double figures in 20 games, had 8 or more rebounds in 13 games and never really had a poor game.

Some good news we got after our final regular season game: PF Jason Vickers’ broken foot has healed, so he will return for conference tourney. It will be nice to have a little more depth up front.