FEDORA

[PointGuard]

Jan. 19, 2021: James Madison Dukes (10-6, 3-2) @ Towson Tigers (8-8, 4-1)

Coach Frederick Aura

The team has been coming together better as the season progresses. At times we’re still making too many turnovers but things seem to be improving on that front. Offensively we’re scoring well and shooting well from inside the 3-point line but not too well from outside it. We really need to improve our defense since teams are scoring too easily against us. But our defense was solid in our last game so that was a good sign.

While our starters at PG (Adrian Brown), SG (Billy Thomas), and SF (Wayne Burrough) are definitely set, I think I could start either Jason Miner or Jason Vickers at PF and could start either Melvin Steele or Nick McPherson at C. Miner is a better rebounder while Vickers is a better scorer. Steele is a better scorer while McPherson is a better rebounder. For now I’m continuing to stick with Miner and Steele starting.

James Madison had a strong pre-conference schedule and did well with it, but then lost their first 2 conference games before reeling off 3 straight wins. They have a nice inside-outside scoring duo with SG Chris Archey (12.9 ppg) and C Felipe McMillian (13.7 ppg). A primary objective for us is to keep either of them from breaking loose. The Dukes’ offense is equal to ours but their defense has been stronger than ours.

1st Half:

We started strongly and opened a 12-5 lead but then let the Dukes score 8 unanswered points and take the lead. The game stayed close until the last few minutes of the half when James Madison pulled away to take a 37-32 halftime lead. I’m upset that we made 12 turnovers so will need to get on the guys about that in the locker room. We also let Chris Archey score 12 points. We can’t continue to let him get free.

2nd Half:

We scored the first 5 points to tie the game, but the Dukes immediately struck back to score 8 unanswered points. We then scrappily came back to go ahead 52-49 with 11:20 to go. We then fell behind and try as we might we just couldn’t pull back into the lead. We ended up with a disappointing 74-70 loss. The Dukes got to the line 4 more times, scored 4 more points on free throws and that was the difference. Not good losing at home. It felt like we gave it away tonight.

SG Billy Thomas scored 14 plus had 7 rebounds, C Melvin Steele had 12 points and 6 boards, and SF Wayne Burrough and PG Adrian Brown both added 11 points. C Felipe McMillian had a big 2nd half for James Madison and ended up with 19 points.

With the loss we’re now in a 3-way tie for 1st place with James Madison and Delaware as the bumpy road through the Colonial Athletic Association schedule continues.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 23, 2021: Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens (7-10, 4-2) @ Towson Tigers (8-9, 4-2)

PG Adrian Brown

The competition level is a lot higher this season than when I played JC ball the last two years. I'm feeling good about it though.

I love going up against a team we’re tied with for the lead in the conference. After losing our last game at home, Coach Fed drummed into us how critical it is for us to DOMINATE from the opening tip off to the final buzzer when playing at home. He said we need to have a “Take No Prisoners” attitude since it’s OUR home and nobody’s gonna take another game away from us at OUR home.

We started slow but SF Wayne Burrough carried us to help us get back into the game. But we couldn’t hit our shots (31% from the field and 13% of our 3’s) plus the refs whistled us for 15 fouls which put Delaware on the line 23 times where they made 18 points. Just 6 fouls were called on the FIghtin’ Blue Hens. We had 4 players with 2 fouls and 2 players with 3 fouls. Coach Fed was all over the refs and got a T just before the end of the half. We ended up on the short end of a 42-27 halftime score. SF Wayne Burrough was our only player who played well. He scored 12 points, but he’d been called for 3 fouls. Coach Fed chewed out our butts during halftime.

We again had a bad start in the 2nd half and fell behind by 17 points, but then began to slowly whittle down Delaware’s lead. Finally with 3:24 left we tied the game at 61-61. Jason Vickers was fouled with 2:50 to go and sunk both free throws to put us ahead by 2. We then took control and pulled away for a solid 78-68 win. While we didn’t dominate for most of the game, we came through when it counted. Defensively we held Delaware to less that 40% from the field in the 2nd half and forced the Fightin’ Blue Hens to commit 22 turnovers compared to just 8 by us.

Our star was SF Wayne Burrough who tossed in 18 points. C Nick McPherson had 12 points and 6 boards. PF Jason Miner hit for 11 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and had 4 steals. I shot horribly but still scored 11 points. SG Ryan Taylor added 9 points (all in the 2nd half).

We’re now tied for 1st with James Madison but 3 teams are just one game behind.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 26, 2021; Towson Tigers (9-9, 5-2) @ NC-Wilmington Seahawks (7-11, 3-4)

Tiger Blog

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2021:

The Tigers pulled out a win at home earlier this week. That gives them a 4-2 home record. Going into the game at NC-Wilmington, Towson is 5-7 on the road.

Freshman SF Wayne Burrough is averaging 11.4 ppg. JC transfer PG Adrian Brown has scored 9.9 ppg, SG Billy Thomas is averaging 9.5 ppg, C Melvin Steele has scored 8.7 ppg and PF Jason Vickers has scored 8.6 ppg. C Nick McPherson is the Tiger’s top rebounder with 4.8 rpg followed by Wayne Burrough with 4.6 rpg, Melvin Steele at 4.2 rpg, and PF Jason Miner with 4.1 rpg. The assists leader is Adrian Brown with 3.6 apg and PG Mateen Carroll has 3.1 apg with Billy Thomas having 2.2 apg.

Towson is averaging 76.0 ppg which is the highest offense in the Colonial Athletic Association. But defensively they are giving up 75.9 ppg, which is second worst in the Conference (Charleston is has given up 80.4 ppg).

Rumor has it that Coach Frederick Aura is so disturbed by how poorly his team starts in many of its games that he is considering changes to the starting lineup just to shake up his team. We’ll let you know if that happens.

'Towson journeyed to Wilmington, NC to take on North Carolina-Wilmington tomorrow night. NC-Wilmington’s guard Mike Clay is the league’s leading scorer averaging 16.7 ppg. Clay has had several games where he has nearly scored 30 points, so containing him could well prove difficult for the Tigers.

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2021, Summary of Towson’s game against NC-Wilmington:

Nick McPherson was inserted into Towson’s starting lineup at C in place of Melvin Steele for this game. Steele has often picked up quick fouls at the beginning of games. Coach Aura also switched Jason’s when Jason Miner was benched in favor of Jason Vickers at PF. Aura also moved starter Adrian Brown from PG to SG in the starting lineup and started Mateen Carroll at PG. It had been rumored the past few days that Aura was going to shake up the team to try to stir them from their frequent doldrums. The only starter to not be changed was freshman SF Wayne Burrough.

The Tigers played well in the first few minutes of the game but then couldn’t hit the side of a barn with their FG attempts and fell behind 26-11. Towson came back to cut the Seahawks’ lead to 6 points but then fell apart in the latter stages of the half to trail 47-34 at the break. SF Ross Davis and SG Ryan Taylor each scored 6 points for the Tigers while SG Mike Clay carved up the Tigers’ defense for 16 first half points.

Towson picked up their scoring in the 2nd half but their efforts to cut into the lead were repeatedly squashed by their very porous defense. NC-Wilmington inflicted a punishing 86-71 crushing of the Tigers.

Mike Clay scored 24 to lead the Seahawks. For Towson SG Billy Thomas scored 13, SG Ryan Taylor scored 11, PF Jason Vickers and SF Wayne Burrough both scored 10, and SG/PG Adrian Brown had 9 points and 7 assists.

After the game Coach Aura said, ”Even though our revised starting lineup didn’t light things up, I’m hoping it got our guys realizing that they need to begin producing in order to start. Thus far the conference is topsy-turvy. So we’re still in 1st place but now tied with 3 others for that spot with 3 more teams just a game behind. We really need to begin playing better and play that way consistently.”

[PointGuard]

Jan. 30, 2021: Northeastern Huskies (11-8, 5-3) @ Towson Tigers (9-10, 5-3)

CDR, USN(R) Paul Jonovich, fan

This is the first game I’ve been to in a long time. I came down with coronavirus and it knocked me flat. So I spent far too long in the hospital and then underwent a long convalescence. I thought I was taking decent precautions, but got the feeling the country had the virus under control and let down my guard. Big mistake! Messed up me, messed up my family, messed up my relations with friends. I’m now a convert…be careful, take all preventative measures seriously. Even though the disease is “under control”, it’s still out there and attacking since there still is no vaccine. We continue to see spikes here and there throughout the country.

But it’s great to finally get out and enjoy a basketball game. Towson’s had an up-and-down season thus far. I’m hoping they have an UP tonight and begin to get it together and put together a long win streak. The team hasn’t inspired its fans this season so there are plenty of empty seats in SECU Arena. That makes it easy to socially distance.

The two teams matched each other for the first 10 minutes. Midway through the half, Towson was on top 18-17. The Tigers then went into a complete tailspin, shooting poorly, turning the ball over, and playing shaky defense. Northeastern took advantage of their ineptitude and pulled away to a 39-27 halftime advantage. In those horrible 10 minutes I could see why this team has failed to achieve this season. No one on the team seemed able to grab the reins to reel in the stampeding team. For Northeastern, SF Mike Clyburn poured in 10 points.

When the Tigers returned to the court for the 2nd half, they looked lost and feel behind by 21 points with 13 minutes to go. While Towson picked up their level of play after that, they didn’t have enough fuel in the tank to catch up and lost 75-69. By pulling down 7 fewer rebounds and by making 6 more turnovers than Northeastern, the Tigers just gave the Huskies too many chances.

SG Billy Thomas scored 14, PG Adrian Brown added 11, and PF Jason Miner finished with 10.

After losing another home game Towson is now in a 3-way tie for 3rd place in the conference.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 2, 2021: Elon Phoenix (6-14, 4-5) @ Towson Tigers (9-11, 5-4)

Coach Frederick Aura

I should be exalting to be playing a home game, but we’ve not played well at home. Our record at SECU Arena is 4-3. But all we can is try to get back on-track tonight as we start the 2nd half of our conference schedule. We beat Elon in OT 81-80 on their court previously this season. SG Adam Sasser (14.3 ppg) and PF Darius Cockle (13.3 ppg) are the Phoenix’ go-to guys. But their C Amir Dissinger scored 17 against us as did Cockle when we played them.

C Melvin Steele carried us offensively early but we couldn’t pull away from Elon. Midway through the first half we clamped down defensively and opened a 10 point lead. Then our offense began clicking and by the end of the half my guys had opened a 41-25 lead. We hit 51% of our FG’s and 44% of our 3’s while holding Elon’s shooting to 41% on FG’s and 29% of 3’s. C Melvin Steele had a big half scoring 11 points for us.

Six minutes into the 2nd half our lead had grown to 27 as our offense continued to sizzle. With 9 minutes remaining we led 69-37. Our lead expanded to 34 and we ended the game with an 83-53 thrashing of the Phoenix. We dropped in 53% of our FG attempts and the same percentage of our 3-point attempts. We scored 83 points even though we only went to the foul line 3 times. All 11 of our players scored andl also had at least 1 assist aand 10 of them had rebounds. We dominated the boards 38-24 and had a 10-7 turnover advantage. The Phoenix hit just 38% of the FG’s and 25% of their 3’s. This is the kind of dominance we need to be achieving at home!

Leading us was C Melvin Steele with 15 points and 8 rebounds. PG Adrian Brown scored 12. Instead of scoring 17 points as he did in our previous contest with Elon, C Amir Dissinger was held scoreless in this game.

We’re now tied with 3 other teams for 2nd place in the conference, one game behind first place Northeastern.

[PointGuard]

Hit the Books!

Harry Iacona, 3rd Assistant Coach

I’m still working with Mateen Carroll and Adrian Brown to try to improve their grades. They’ve been agreeable to studying more and we’re continuing those efforts. I’ve given them a goal to improve their GPA from a C+ to a B by the end of the season. The GPA’s for the rest of the players are above a 3.0 so we’re happy with that.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 6, 2021: Towson Tigers (10-11, 6-4) @ William & Mary Tribe (9-12, 6-4)

Michael Snoddy, 2nd Asst Coach

William & Mary has been on a roll lately. They’ve won 5 of their last 6 games. We need to stop that roll and get on one of our own. We need to have some success early so we get confident and then take control. That’s not been our forte, so it’ll be a big challenge.

We hung with the Tribe for the first 10 minutes but then simply fell apart….turnovers and a total defensive letdown. William & Mary ran away to sport a 49-31 halftime lead. The Tribe hit 59% of their FG attempts. Coach Aura laid into the team in the locker room about their abysmal defensive effort.

Our guys’ play improved in the 2nd half and we cut the lead to 10 with 14:45 to go. We continued to edge closer and with 10 minutes to go we trailed 67-61. A minute later we were with 4 points of the Tribe. Then with 6:16 remaining Wayne Burrough slipped free to bury a pretty jumper and cut the lead to 71-69. But from there a series of turnovers and missed opportunities doomed our effort to finish the comeback. We ended up losing 87-77. Our 2nd half shooting improved our overall shooting percentage to 52% but William & Mary got to the free throw line 10 more times and scored 7 more points there than did we. Ultimately though it was our 21 turnovers that foiled a strong 2nd half effort. Very disappointing to make such a big comeback but then throw it all away.

C Melvin Steele hit for 18 points, PG Mateen Carroll scored 13, and SG Billy Thomas and PF Jason Minor both scored 11.

We slipped into a 3-way tie for 4th place although we’re only one game behind the 3 teams tied for 1st place.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 9, 2021: Charleston Cougars (8-15, 5-6) @ Towson Tigers (10-12, 6-5)

Jason Miner, PF

When we played Charleston on their court earlier this season, we lost 90-83 but there were 24 lead changes and 12 ties. We’re determined to reverse the outcome tonight. Two of my teammates from high school have come to tonight’s game. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, so I’m hoping we do well.

We came out firing and ran away to a 17-7 lead with 13:16 left in the first half. Our lead ballooned to 29-8 with 9 minutes left. We let the Cougars cut our lead to 8 with 5 minutes remaining but then put on a long run that gave us a 48-32 cushion at the break. We outshot Charleston 56% to 32% and held a 23-17 rebounding advantage. SF Wayne Burrough and PG Adrian Brown both scored 10 points.

We maintained a 17-26 point lead throughout the entire 2nd half and easily won 93-73. We hit 53% of our FG attempts and 58% of our 3’s plus controlled the boards 41-33.

SF Wayne Burrough had a strong double-double with 22 points and 11 boards. I also had a big night with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Maybe my old teammates being in the stands fired me up some. It was nice to get their pats on the back when we met up after the game for some beers. PG Adrian Brown scored 14 and dished out 7 assists. C Mark Ress scored 19 and picked off 10 rebounds for Charleston. Ress pissed me off though since he was very adept at fouling without being detected and he knew it so was a pretty dirty player.

The win moved us back into a tie for 2nd place in the conference along with 3 other teams with Northeastern holding down first place, one game ahead of us.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 13, 2021: Towson Tigers (11-12, 7-5) @ Hofstra Pride (8-15, 4-8)

Alex Haywood, walk-on PG

While there is little likelihood I get to play, at least I get to travel with the team. I spent a year at a JC before coming to Towson. Couldn’t wangle a scholarship, but they took me on as a walk-on this season.

Hofstra is a team we should beat, but it took us 2 overtimes to wear them down to the point where we could win when we played them on our court. So this is no gimme.

We used the 3 to carve out a 42-38 halftime lead. We knocked down 7 of 14 shots from beyond the arc. Our leading scorer was PF Jason Vickers with 9 points but C Melvin Steele got 8 points and 6 rebounds in the half.

We clung to a small lead throughout the 2nd half like it was a lifeline on a treacherous icy mountain slope. But with 1 minute to go the Pride hit a 3 that tied the game. Then we turned the ball over and they hit a jumper to put them ahead by 2. Coach Fed called a time out and designed a pick and roll that Mateen Carroll and Billy Thomas executed to perfection to tie the game at 72-72 with 15 seconds to go. With 4 seconds left, Jason Vickers picked off a pass and lofted up a long desperation shot that missed the mark taking us to overtime.

The lead shifted back and forth in the first 3 minutes of OT but then Hofstra pulled ahead by 3 and we had to foul in the final minute. With 5 seconds left we had a chance to tie if we could knock down a 3, but our shot was way off the mark and we dropped the game 86-83. As in our last game, turnovers were our downfall…all 23 of them. So Coach Fed will be all over us when we get back on the practice court.

PF Jason Vickers scored 19 plus had 3 steals and a block. SG Ryan Taylor hit for 11 points and C Melvin Steele and SF Wayne Burrough added 10 with Burrough also hauling down 10 boards.

We’re now tied for 3rd place, 2 games behind conference-leading Northeastern.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 16, 2021: Drexel Dragons (10-14, 6-7) @ Towson Tigers (11-13, 7-6)

Robert Cornetski, security

Hi, I’m a volunteer who helps with security at the games. Main responsibility is to keep people from getting on the court and direct people to the right area for their seating. We haven’t had much problem with the fans, so I haven’t had to break up any fights or anything like that. But volunteering lets me get to all the home games and not have to pay.

I really like the coaches and the guys on this season’s team and keep thinking they will get on a nice win streak, but the season is getting down toward the end so I guess that’s not to be. Towson rolled over Drexel 75-53 when they played earlier this season. I hear that Northeastern lost today, so if the Tigers win tonight they will be back within a game of first place with 4 games left to play. Only one of the last 4 games is at home though.

I hear that Nick McPherson strained his hamstring. Sounds at though he can play, his time on the court will be limited by the injury.

Towson got out to an early 10-4 lead. Then I was told a fan was causing a problem at the concession stand. I went out and walked into a hot argument between the fan and the concessionaire. I tried toning things down, but when that didn’t work I was able to move the fan to the side to talk individually to him. It took a while, but finally he settled down and I was able to return to the sidelines. By then the score was 30-15 in Towson’s favor. But my presence seemed to bring some bad luck to our team. The Dragons then went on a run that cut the Tigers’ lead at the intermission to 40-35. Our point guards, Mateen Carroll and Adrian Brown combined to score 15 of the teams’ 40 points.

Both teams had a slow start in the 2nd half. The Tigers held onto a small lead throughout the 2nd half but couldn’t pull away from Drexel. With 2 minutes left Towson led 72-69. Then the Dragons sunk a 3 to tie the game. Wayne Burroughs dropped in a jumper to put the Tigers up 74-72 with 1:22 to go. Melvin Steele got called for his 5th foul with 42 seconds on the clock. Drexel made just 1 of 2 free throws to cut the lead to a single point. The Dragons intentionally fouled. Billy Thomas missed the front end of a one-and-one and Drexel rebounded and called a time out. With 17 seconds to go, Wayne Burrough picked off a pass and passed to Adrian Brown. Drexel immediately fouled. Brown sunk both foul shots to put the Tigers up by 3 with 15 seconds remaining. Drexel worked the ball to C Tyrone Jackson who looked to have an open shot from near the foul line, but Adrian Brown quickly moved over and wisely caught Jackson’s elbow as he shot throwing the shot off. Jackson went to the line with 5 ticks on the clock. He bricked the first shot and you could hear a collective sigh of relief from the entire home crowd. His 2nd shot rimmed out and that was the game. The Tigers pulled out a squeaker 76-73. Not a pretty win, but a win is a win.

SF Wayne Burrough was high point man with 15 points. PG Adrian Brown scored 13 and PG Mateen Carroll added 10. Drexel’s bench scored 44 of their 73 points.

Towson is now tied with Delaware for 3rd place in the Colonial Athletic Association, one game behind Northeastern and William & Mary which are tied for 1st place.