FEDORA

[PointGuard]

Mar. 1, 2023: Drexel Dragons (15-12, 9-7) @ Towson Tigers (22-5, 14-2)

Tom Braxton, Towson University grad and fan

Drexel rolled over the Tigers 78-61 in the game played in Philadelphia earlier this season.

The Tigers lacked enthusiasm in the first half, shooting poorly (38%) and being totally dominated on the boards by Drexel. The Dragons pulled away in the last 8 minutes of the half and held a 37-30 halftime lead. Hopefully Coach Aura gives them a big kick in their collective butt in the locker room so they come out to play aggressively in the 2nd half.

The team continued to slog through the early going of the 2nd half but finally tied the game at 47-47 with 12-1/2 minutes left to go. But they didn’t take a lead until the 7:18 mark when SF Russ Davis sunk 2 free throws to put the Tigers on top 58-56. Towson built a 6 point lead but SG Dominick Collins and then C Donny Flint fouled out. With 57 seconds left and Towson on top 69-68, Drexel pulled won a rebound and called a time out. The Dragons hit a field goal with 30 seconds on the clock to go ahead a a single point. An interior shot was blocked by Drexel forcing the Tigers to foul with 12 seconds remaining. The Dragons hit both shots to go up by 3. After the ensuing time out, Wayne Burrough got off a 3 from the top of the key but it bounced off the rim. The Tigers dropped the game 72-69. Having already sewn up first place in the conference, they seemed to have had a letdown. They hit just 36% of their FG attempts and 29% of their 3’s.

C Donny Flint scored 11 and PF Deon Penn and SF Wayne Burrough both had 10 points. PG Nathaniel Keys dropped in 21 points for Drexel.

[PointGuard]

Mar. 4, 2023: Towson Tigers (22-6, 14-3) @ James Madison Dukes (18-10, 10-7)

Kenyon Haynes, 1st Assistant (Practice) Coach

Coach Aura and we assistants were all upset by the team’s letdown against Drexel, particularly since we were playing them on our court. Playing James Madison on the road is a tall task, but we want to finish our regular season on a positive note and not go into the conference tournament with a losing streak. We’re at full strength with the exception of PF Jason Vickers, who will play but is still bothered by a strained toe.

But James Madison came out hot, hitting shot after shot. They shredded our defense to seize a commanding 51-37 lead at the half. SG Dominick Collins and C Donny Flint both got into early foul trouble and spent most of the half on our bench. But our letting the Dukes hit 59% of their shots had Coach Aura roaring in the locker room.

We adjusted what we were doing defensively, dropping our zone defense entirely to go strictly to a tenacious man-to-man with a lot of double teaming on their guards who had zapped us in the first half. The tongue-lashing and our shift defensively paid dividends. The Dukes began firing up blanks. We also forced a lot of turnovers that led to some easy breakaway baskets. We began trimming the lead steadily. With 5:25 to go we got our first lead of the game when Dominick Collins sank a long 3. The lead shifted between the two teams for the next 4 minutes. But after we went up by 2 with 90 seconds to go, we doggedly held onto the lead and came away with a hard-fought win, edging James Madison 84-80.

We held an amazing 46-14 advantage in points-in-the-paint and also an 18-6 difference in fast break points. That helped us make up for refs putting the Dukes on the line a lot more where they scored 9 more points than did we.

SF Wayne Burrough scored 12 plus grabbed 9 rebounds. PF Shaun White had a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists plus he had 4 steals. SG Dominick Collins had a big 2nd half to finish the game with 13 points even though he played just 17 minutes the entire game. C Donny Flint played just 20 minutes but scored 12 and had 7 boards. Four of our reserves played a combined 60 minutes and scored a combined 31 points, led by PF/SF Jason Vickers 10 points and SG Ryan Taylor’s 9 points. Even though we throttled the Dukes’ SG Chris Archey, PG Nick Calhoun, and reserve guard Chris Ausler in the 2nd half, because of their first half onslaught they still finished with a combined 49 points with Calhoun adding 11 assists.

We considered the last 20 minutes a good tune up for the upcoming CAA tournament which we’ll enter with the #1 seed.

[PointGuard]

Kenyon Haynes, 1st Assistant Coach

Here's the Final Colonial Athletic Association standings:



Even though we held a 4-10 game cushion over the rest of the teams in the conference, there are no guarantees when it comes to the conference tournament. In our first tournament game, we’ll play the winner of the Delaware/NC-Wilmington play-in game. But if we win that game and Drexel wins their first game, we’ll be matched up against the Dragons in the semi-final round. Drexel beat us both times we played them this season.

We now have 3 players with minor injuries: (1) PF Jason Vickers has a sprained toe but should be at full strength by the time tournament play begins; (2) PF Deon Penn is complaining about back pain and it’s unclear as to whether he will be a full-strength when we play our first tournament game; and (3) SG Ryan Taylor sprained his ankle and while he may be able to play, he definitely won’t be at full strength throughout the CAA tournament.

[PointGuard]

Matt Barnes, 2nd Assistant (Recruiting) Coach:

The day after we finished our regular season with our come-back win and our 1st place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association, we got two phone calls. Those 2 calls dampened our spirits. First, C Dan Jackson called and said he had decided to go to Villanova. Then SG Mike Cook notified us he had accepted a scholarship offer to Memphis. I was despondent since both had shown enough interest that we’d offered them our final two scholarships, and I figured at least one of them would come our way.

That meant we again had 2 scholarships to re-offer. Thus far we have 3 high school recruits who have signed letters of intent…two are big men and the other is a PG. I think all 3 are strong, but any or all of them may take some maturing and development before they are ready to step in for major minutes. Even though we don’t have any highly ranked big men on our remaining list of recruits, we would like to add one more. With the other offer, we likely will go after either a SF or SG. With Dominick Collins, who is a sophomore presently, coming on strong toward the end of this season and Copley Dwiggins, a present freshman, looking like he could develop into a strong player (although it may take another year for him to do so), we’re more likely to go after a SF. Even though we are presently very strong at that position, both Wayne Burrough and Ross Davis will be seniors next season. So it would be good to get in someone who could be ready to step in after they leave.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun

CAA TOURNAMENT BEGINS

Last night two play-in games kicked off the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.

In the first game, Elon got by Hofstra in a low-scoring 53-49 game. The Hofstra Pride looked to be in control in the first half, building a 14 point lead before settling for a 31-23 lead at the end of the first half. But the Elon Phoenix applied a lock-down defense in the 2nd half to go u by as much as 9. The Pride then made a late run that came up a little short. C Colt Morris came off the bench to score 13 points, grab 4 rebounds, and hand out 3 assists in the 15 minutes he was on the court for Elon. Hofstra was led offensively by PG Marco Smith who finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Elon earned the right to go up against Charleston in tonight’s quarter-finals.

The late game was a defensive game as well as both teams combined to force a total of 43 turnovers. The Delaware FIghtin’ Blue Hens edged the NC-Wilmington Seahawks 61-57. The Seahawks had the best of it in the first half and took a 31-27 lead to the locker room. But Delaware began hitting their shots in the 2nd half and quickly caught up and then moved out to a 13 point lead. NC-Wilmington cut into the lead late in the game but was unable to catch up. Delaware’s PG Kenyon Jefferson led all scorers with 17 points while NC-Wilmington’s top scorer was SG Mike Clay who chipped in 13 points. Delaware will take on top-ranked Towson tonight. The Seahawks’ loss was their 9th straight to end their forgettable season.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun

CAA TOURNAMENT QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS

#5 seed Northeastern-79, #4 seed Drexel-57: The first half was close with Northeastern escaping with a 36-33 advantage. But the Huskies completely destroyed the Dragons in the 2nd half. Northeastern hit 46% of their field goal attempts, while Drexel knocked down just 29% of theirs. The Huskies also dominated the boards 40-29. PF Anthony Serraville and SF Steve Leath both scored 22 points for Northeastern with Searraville also hauling down 10 rebounds. SF Aaron Dupay with 11 points was the only player for Drexel to score in double figures.

#3 seed James Madison-77, #6 seed William & Mary-56: In another blowout, James Madison never trailed and jumped out to a 40-22 halftime lead. The Dukes continued to roll in the 2nd half, never letting the Tribe make a serious run. James Madison’s guards, Nick Calhoun and Chris Archey combined to score 31 points. William & Mary was led by C Brandon Williams with 10 points and 9 rebounds.

#2 seed Charleston-83, #7 seed Elon-70: The lead shifted back and forth throughout the entire first half with Charleston coming out on top 42-41. The score remained extremely close during the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. But then Charleston clamped down defensively to pull away in the latter stages of the game. Four of the Cougars’ starters scored in double figures, led by SG Grant Hopkins who scored 18 points. PG Nathan Martin was the leading scorer for the Phoenix with 15 points.

#1 seed Towson-86, #8 seed Delaware-69: Delaware came out firing and took an 11 point lead midway through the first half. But the Tigers defense then clamped down and Towson came back to overtake the FIghtin’ Blue Hens and pull away to a 45-35 advantage. The Tigers continued their onslaught in the 2nd half to extend their lead to 26 points before playing their bench allowing Delaware to trim the lead a little. C Donny Flint was nearly unstoppable with 30 points and 14 rebounds for Towson. SG Dominick Collins and PF/SF Jason Vickers both scored 11 and SG Ryan Taylor added 10. SG Ronnie Carter led Delaware’s scoring with 16 points. Coach Frederick Aura said, “It was great to see Donny (Flint) come out with a huge game. He’s been limited late this season by double-teaming and foul troubles, but he showed what he can do tonight.”

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun

NO SURPRISES IN CAA TOURNAMENT

There were no upsets in the Colonial Athletic Association's Semi-Final round last night.

#2 seed Charleston-80, #3 seed James Madison-70: Charleston ground out a 43-37 in the first half. The Cougars then expanded their lead to as much as 18 points in the 2nd half before settling for a 10 point win that put them into the championship game. Even though the Dukes shot better than Charleston, the Cougars won the game by controlling the boards 44-31 and making just 9 turnovers compared to 15 by the Dukes. Five Charleston players scored in double figures with SF Russell Brown’s 16 points. C Gale Thorne had 17 rebounds for the Cougars. SG Chris Archey scored 23 points for James Madison.

#1 seed Towson-71, #5 seed Northeastern-59: The two teams exchanged the lead throughout the first half. Defense dominated on both ends of the court with Towson coming out on top at the intermission by a score of 31-28. In the 2nd half, the Tigers control of the boards (46-29) gave them the advantage and they slowly edged away, gradually expanding their lead to the end. C Donny Flint scored 15, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had 3 blocks for Towson. PF Deon Penn also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards with SG Dominick Collins tossing in 13 points, PG Shaun White adding 12 points, and SF Wayne Burrough hitting for 9 points while also pulling down 10 rebounds.

Those games pit the two top teams, Towson and Charleston. against each other in tonight's CAA championship.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun

CAA CHAMPS CROWNED

The CAA championship game matched the two top teams in the conference. Charleston (21-12, 11-7) and Towson (25-6, 15-3) split their games this season with the Cougars winning at their home by 6 points and the Tigers winning by 31 at home.

Early in the first half, the two teams traded the lead back and forth, but then Towson went on a 14-3 run and pulled away to lead 50-36 at the break. The second half turned into a defensive battle with Towson clamping down so tightly that they were able to go ahead by 25. Then the Tigers shooting went completely cold and Charleston chipped away at the lead but was too far back to challenge. When the final buzzer sounded the Towson Tigers won their second straight CAA Championship, scoring a 81-64 win over Charleston.

Towson hit just 37% of their shots in the game but Charleston could only knock down 32% of theirs. The Tigers only got to the free throw line 5 times the entire game, but out-rebounded the Cougars 50-36 and held a 18-14 turnover advantage. Towson’s PG Shaun White poured in 20 points with SG Dominick Collins adding 15 and reserve PG Matt Faust hitting for 13. C Donny Flint and PF Deon Penn commanded the boards with 18 and 10 rebounds, respectively. For Charleston, SG Grant Hopkins and reserve PG Kris Bean both scored 13 points with PF Ed Jenkins recording a double-double (11 points and 16 rebounds) and also making 3 steals and 3 blocks.

The win earned Towson a trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 26-6 season record and 38th best RPI in the nation.

[PointGuard]

Tiger Blog

BREAKING NEWS!

After compiling a 26-6 season record, a league-leading 15-3 CAA record, and winning the CAA Conference Tourney, the Towson Tigers cracked the Top 25 in the polls. They are ranked #24 in the Media Poll. This is the first time the Tigers have ever been ranked in a national poll. Their RPI is now 34th best in the country.

[Wayne23]

Yay! Ranked!!!