FEDORA

[PointGuard]

Dec. 5, 2023: Towson Tigers (6-0) @ #18-ranked Saint Mary’s Gaels (5-0)

3rd Assistant Coach Nate Culuko

The past 4 seasons Saint Mary’s has 2 first place and 2 second place finishes in the West Coast Conference and has averaged 25 wins per season. They’ve been to the NCAA Tournament each year getting to the Elite 8 once and the Sweet 16 another time. They ended last season ranked 13 in the polls.

The Gaels got past #3-ranked Kansas by an 82-79 score last week. Thus far this season PF Scott Yarbrough is averaging 20. 6ppg and 8.2 rpg and SG Tim Brown has scored 17.2 ppg and has 5.0 apg. And although he’s just averaging 9.0 ppg but also 8.2 rpg thus far, their best player may well be freshman phenom Bernard Burditt who is starting at SF. Saint Mary’s runs a fast-paced flex offense and has a stingy man-to-man defense. The Gaels are averaging 86 ppg and only have given up 55 ppg this season. McKeon Pavilion’s capacity is only 3500 but every seat will be filled with a rabid Saint Mary’s fan intent on helping carry the Gaels to victory.

Saint Mary’s defense gave us hell in the first half. It wasn’t that we didn’t socre, but they forced us to make repeated turnovers. The Gaels went ahead by 14 and finished the half on top 48-39.

In the second half we aggressively attacked the boards and shot well. Turnovers continued to be a problem but we eroded their lead and made a game of it. The lead see-sawed back and forth through the middle stages of the half, but the Gaels had the poise to come on at the end of the game and put us away 89-85. We finished with an ungodly 27 turnovers compared to just 12 by the Gaels. Saint Mary’s stole the ball 20 times. But we dominated the boards 41-29.

C Donny White played an outstandingly, scoring 25 and hauling in 12 rebounds. SG Dominick Collins hit for 13 and PF Kevin Holmes added 11. PG Shaun White dished out 9 assists but also had 9 turnovers and PG Matt Faust had 6 turnovers although he scored 9 points. SF Ross Davis scored 8 points and pulled down 4 boards in just 6 minutes of play. For Saint Mary’s PF Scott Yarbrough scored 23 and blocked 6 shots while SG Tim Brown knocked down 16 points and had 6 steals.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 8, 2023: Towson Tigers (6-1) @ Arizona State Sun Devils (4-2)

Jon Spann, freshman PG

This is the last of 5 straight road games for us. This is the most I’ve ever traveled in my life. I’ve found it difficult to sleep well in any of the hotels at which we’ve stayed. SG Copley Dwiggins has come down with back spasms, and I’m guessing it’s due to having to endure the different beds most every night.

I’ve hit 52% of my shots (including 40% of my 3’s) and am scoring 8.9 ppg while playing 15.0 mpg at PG and SG. I wanna play more and hope that I get a chance to start soon. I think I’ve earned it.

We were ahead 10-6 when I got into the game with 15-1/2 minutes left in the half. We were up 21-12 when I went back to the bench 5 minutes later with 2 points and 2 rebounds. I got back into the game with 7 minutes left in the half at which point we held a 30-19 lead. The refs called the 2nd foul on me 4 minutes later and that sent me to the bench again. We finished the half with a 41-34 lead. C Donyell Porter scored 13 points and SF Wayne Burrough had 10 points.

Dominick Collins picked up his 3rd foul and I got back in with less than a minute gone in the 2nd half. I did a good job of grabbing rebounds but wasn’t able to get off a shot. When I was charged with my 3rd foul, I was subbed out after playing 5 minutes. We were ahead 55-42. The refs continued to call us for picky fouls while letting the Sun Devils get away with murder, but we continued to shoot well to maintain a solid lead. I got back into the game with just over 8 minutes left and our lead at 71-53. I just got 4 minutes on the court but we led 88-67. We won the game 95-81 by hitting 56% of our shots (including 46% of our 3’s). After making so many turnovers in our previous game, we had just 9 tonight while forcing Arizona State to turn the ball over 18 times.

Leading our scoring was C Donyell Porter with 21 points. SF Wayne Burrough scored 20 while pulling down 9 boards, PG Shaun White dropped in 19 points, and C Donny Flint hit for 15 points and had 8 rebounds. I played 21 minutes…only hit 1 of 4 shots though and finished with 3 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists...not a good scoring game for me but I played well otherwise. Arizona States SF Kareem Patterson had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 12, 2023: Georgia Bulldogs (5-2, 1-0) @ Towson Tigers (7-1)

Tiger Blog

4 Bulldogs came into the game averaging in double figures.

Offenses sizzled early for both teams. But led by Dominick White’s 11 points, Towson took 25-17 lead with 11:17 to go in half. Tigers hit 67% of their shots in first half and held a 12-6 turnover advantage to take a commanding 52-31 lead at the break. SG Dominick White poured in 22 points.

Towson went up by 30 with 12 minutes remaining. The Tigers then coasted to a 90-58 thumping of the Bulldogs with Coach Aura playing the entire bench. Towson hit 54% of their FG’s, 42% of their 3’s, held a 35-30 rebounding advantage and an 18-7 turnover advantage.

SG Dominick Collins finished with 24 points as well as 3 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks. C Donny Flint scored 14 and C Doryell Porter added 10.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 19, 2023: Towson Tigers (8-1) @ #18-ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack (10-1)

1st Assistant Coach Kenyon Haynes

The Wolfpack beat #25-ranked Gonzaga but lost to #9-ranked Villanova. PNC Arena floor sucks…the wolf design is ugly.

Great effort by our guys in the first half. Lots of hustle kept us a step ahead of the Wolfpack. We hit 54% of our shots even though we were 0 for 6 from beyond the arc. We held NC State’s shooting to 41%, outrebounded them 19-15 and held an 8-6 turnover advantage. We turned those turnovers into 10 fast break points and held a 20-2 advantage in points in the paint. C Donny Flint hit for 10 points plus grabbed 5 boards but picked up 3 fouls. SG/PG Jon Spann also scored 10 points. North Carolina State’s SG’s (Jeff Watson and Derrick Anderson combined to score 21 of the Wolfpack’s 32 points.

Both teams played sloppy basketball after coming on the court in the 2nd half. 7 turnovers by the two teams in 2-1/2 minutes. It took us 3-1/2 minutes to score, but we got our offense back in gear at that point. With 10 minutes to go we led 62-42. We continued our strong offensive play to win convincingly 89-75. We hit all 6 3-point shots we took in the 2nd half and ended up hitting 59% of our FG attempts. We were +4 in rebounds and +4 in turnovers as well. This was our 2nd win against the 3 teams we played that are in the Top 25 in the polls and all 3 of those games were away games for us. The win improved our RPI to 4th best in the nation, but we still are unranked.

C Donny Flint dropped in 18 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. SG/PG Jon Spann popped in 16 points. SG Dominick Collins scored 12, SF Mac McCaffery tossed in 11 points, and PF Kevin Holmes added 10 points. All 12 of our players who got into the games scored.

[Wayne23]

The Tigers are for real!!!

[PointGuard]

Dec. 26, 2023: Rutgers Scarlett Knights (5-4) @ Towson Tigers (9-1)

Kevin Holmes, PF

We jumped out to a 19-2 lead in the first 6 minutes of play. With 10 minutes to go in the half, we were on top 26-3. Our offense continued to perk and we finished the half with a huge 49-21 gap over the Scarlett Knights. We dropped in 62% of our shots while holding Rutgers shooting to 27%. We dominated the boards 23-12 and held a 9-4 turnover advantage. C Donny Flint had 15 points and 5 rebounds in the half and SG Dominick Collins added 10 points.

It took nearly 3 minutes in the 2nd half before Rutgers scored and nearly 4 minutes before we hit our first basket. We then held onto our big lead until the final 10 minutes when repeated trips to the foul line for Rutgers and lots of playing time for our subs narrowed the difference a little. But there never was any real challenge and we came away with a 75-57 victory.

Our top scorer was C Donny Flint with 17 points with SG Dominick Collins and C/PF Donyell Porter each scoring 12.

[PointGuard]

Tiger Blog

Pre-conference play ended this past week and CAA play begins this week. Towson with its 10-1 record stood out amongst CAA teams.

Pre-Conf Team Records:

Towson: 10-1
Drexel: 7-4
Hofstra: 6-5
NC-Wilmington: 6-5
James Madison: 6-6
Charleston: 6-7
Elon: 5-6
William & Mary: 4-7
Northeastern: 4-7
Delaware: 4-7

The Tigers, not surprisingly, are predicted by those in the media covering CAA teams to win the conference title. Following them in media prognostications are Elon, Charleston, James Madison, and Drexel.

Towson kicks off CAA play this week with an away game at Hofstra followed by a home game against James Madison.

Towson holds the 3rd best RPI rating in all of Division I basketball. After notching wins over 4 ACC teams, 1 SEC team, 2 Pac-12 teams, 1 Big East team, 1 Big 10 team, and 1 Mountain West team and their only loss being to the team that appears to be best in the West Coast Conference, it’s vexing that the Tigers are not yet ranked in the polls. Coach Aura dismissed those concerns by saying, “I’m not really concerned about how we’re ranked. Cracking into the polls as a CAA team is extremely difficult. I’m pleased with how our team has played thus far. But now our focus is on doing as well as we can in the CAA and getting back to the NCAA Tournament. After winning the conference title the past 2 seasons, we know that we have a target painted on our back and all the other CAA teams will be gunning for us.” Coach Aura was non-committal when asked which CAA team he feels will be the Tigers primary competitor.

Towson is averaging 82.3 ppg (9th best in the nation) and giving up 69.5 ppg (124th best in the nation) with 20.5 apg (9th best in the nation) and 33.8 rpg (86th best in the nation). The team is hitting 49.6% of their FGA’s (13th best in the nation) and 39.4% of their 3PA’s (30th best in the nation)

Two Towson players (C Donny Flint and SG Dominick Collins) have won CAA Player of the Week honors in the first 7 weeks of play.

After Towson’s first 11 games, here are player stats leaders:

PPG: C Donny Flint, 14.6 ppg; SG Dominick Collins, 12.2 ppg; C/PF Donyell Porter, 9.2 ppg; PG Shaun White, 8.9 ppg; PG/SG Jon Spann, 8.5 ppg; SF Wayne Burrough, 7.4 ppg; PF Kevin Holmes, 7.2 ppg.

RPG: C Donny Flint, 9.0 rpg; SF Wayne Burrough, 6.3 rpg; PF Kevin Holmes, 3.4 rpg, C/PF Donyell Porter, 3.1 rpg; SF Mac McCaffery, 2.5 rpg.

APG: PG Shaun White, 4.6 apg; PG Matt Faust, 2.9 apg; PG/SG Jon Spann, 2.4 apg; SG Dominick Collins, 2.1 apg; PF Kevin Holmes, 1.6 apg.

SPG: PF Kevin Holmes, 1.2 spg, C Donny Flint, 1.1 spg, SG Wayne Burrough, 1.1 apg.

BPG: C Donny Flint, 1.4 bpg; SG Dominick Collins, 1.4 bpg; PF Kevin Holmes, 1.3 bpg.

Coach Aura commented, “Our offense has been strong and improving. While we had problems scoring from beyond the 3-point arc early in the season, we’ve steadily improved that part of our game. And our overall shooting has also improved since we’re working the ball around well to find the open man. Our defense has been inconsistent. At times it’s rock solid and then at other times we seem to have a lot of holes and go to sleep out there. That’s an area I really want to work on as we move through CAA play.”

[PointGuard]

Jan. 2, 2024: Towson Tigers (10-1, 0-0) @ Hofstra Pride (6-5, 0-0)

Lee Risinger, Head Coach of Hofstra Pride

While I would have preferred to have an easier opening game on this season’s conference schedule, I’m glad we’re hosting Towson rather than having to play on their court. Winning this game will be a real challenge, but one I think my guys can accomplish. First we’re 3-1 at home and only loss was by a single point to a good Bradley team (a game we gave away right at the end). I’m hoping that we’ll have all 5,000+ seats filled with our fans at the David S. Mack Sports Complex. Second, we have a talented team, anchored by a very experienced starting five (all seniors and juniors). Third, we have a great inside-outside threat with C Colin Leith averaging 15.2 ppg and 7.0 rpg and guards Marco Smith (13.2 ppg and 3.8 apg) and Norman Cherry (11.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 4.1 apg). Fourth, we’re a high scoring team (78.5 ppg which is 34th best in the country) with players who shoot extremely well (50.9% shooting which is 5th best in the country). That’s not to say Towson isn’t impressive. They’ve scored well also. One key will be to get the Tigers’ C Donny Flint into early foul trouble…a problem he’s frequently had this season and I believe Colin Leith will force Flint to foul. That way we can then work on controlling whoever else gets hot. Towson’s defense has been extremely effective…so we need to solve that and break it…which we’ve been working hard on in practice. And finally, our guys feel Towson has gotten too big for its britches…and we really want to take them down a peg.

Good start…we kept Towson from scoring for the first 2-1/2 minutes. Damn! We let the Tigers go on an 8-0 run after that, though. Their interior guys are killing us. We got back into the game and tied it up at 10-10 with 13 minutes left in the half. Our defense is now making it difficult for them to score. We finally got the lead back at 17-16 when we hit a 3 with 7:20 remaining. Alright! Great defense holds Towson’s shooting to just 37% in the first half plus made them make 11 turnovers. We pretty much shut down everyone other than Donny Flint who scored 11 and grabbed 7 boards. Unfortunately he only got called for one foul. Our bench outscored theirs 18-8. Not much for me to change at the half other than fine-tune our offensive sets some so we can pull away from Towson in the 2nd half.

We get SG Dominick Collins and Donny Flint to both pick up their 3rd foul early in the 2nd half and pull ahead by 5 after 2-1/2 minutes of play. We go up by 21 with 9-1/2 minutes left…our offense is kicking ass. Flint and Collins both picked up their 4th foul and PG/SG Jon Spann fouled out for Towson. The Tigers went on an 18-4 run in the final 6 minutes, but hitting just 4 of 19 from beyond the arc kept them from catching up, and we beat them 76-69. Great effort by our players! We outshot Towson 53% to 44% on FG’s and got to the line 11 more times where we scored 7 more points than the Tigers which turned out to be how much we won by.

C Colin Leith and PF Matt Johnson both scored 16 points for us. Both really came on in the 2nd half.

For Towson, C Donny Flint scored 18 and pulled down 11 boards plus has 3 steals and 4 blocks…the guy’s a beast! PF Kevin Holmes added 11 points.

Nobody gave us much of a chance in the CAA this season, but this game showed we can beat any CAA team. We intend to continue doing just that.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 5, 2024: James Madison Dukes (6-7, 0-1) @ Towson Tigers (10-2, 0-1)

Wayne Burrough, SF

Coach Fed got on us pretty good after dropping that game to Hofstra. Not only did we lose but SG Shaun White got knocked down and fell on his hip. He’s pretty sore and sat out of our practices, but says he will be able to play tonight, but Jon Spann will make his first start at PG.

Although I’ve done pretty well on the boards this season, my offense has been weak. I’ve only really scored well in one game when I scored 20 against Arizona State. I just don’t seem to be getting clear much this year. The coaches have been working with me on my movement without the ball and plays that free me up. I’m feeling like I’m letting the team down, so I’ve gotta get out of my funk and begin to produce.

PG Nick Calhoun has really be doing well for James Madison. He’s averaging 16.9 ppg and hitting 52% of his FG attempts and 42% of his 3P attempts. Freshman C Adam Ash is averaging 12.2 ppg and hitting 55% of his shots. We better win tonight or Coach Fed will make practices pure hell.

We hit 9 of our first 11 shots and spurted ahead 20-9 with 13:45 to go in the half. Jon Spann was on fire, scoring 9 points in his first 6 minutes of play. While our offense continued to put points on the board, our defense gave up too many easy baskets to the Dukes who narrowed our lead from 15 points to 50-41 at the break. Coach Fed got on us in the locker room about our slack defense. Both teams hit over 50% of their shots in the first half. But we had a 20-15 advantage on the boards and made just 4 turnovers compared to 7 by James Madison. C Donny Flint and I each scored 10 points. C Adam Ash put 16 points on the board for the Dukes.

We got a double digit lead and held onto it throughout the 2nd half. We whipped the Dukes 94-79. We dominated the boards 43-28.

Leading our scoring was C Donny Flint with 18 points. I scored 17 and had 8 rebounds so the coaching staff gave me pats on the back. PG/SG Jon Spann hit for 14 points. PF Kevin Holmes had one of his best games…a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. SG Dominick Collins added 10 points. All 12 of our players who got into the game scored. James Madison’s C Adam Ash finished with 25 points.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 9, 2024: Elon Phoenix (7-6, 2-0) @ Towson Tigers (11-2, 1-1)

Gloria Spann, mother of freshman PG/SG Jon Spann

Elon’s freshman SF Charles Barnes has been one of the brightest new stars in the CAA. He’s averaging 10.8 ppg and has scored in double figures in 8 of the Phoenix’ 13 games. He’s been the CAA Freshman Player of the Week 4 times already. If my son, Jon, were starting and getting as much playing time, people would understand that he really is the best freshman in the CAA. It’s nearly a 4 hour drive from Buckingham, VA where we live to Towson, so my husband and I can’t get to all of Jon’s home games.

The Tigers shooting sucked early in the game and 3 of their players (C Donny Flint, SF Wayne Burrough, and C Donyell Porter) picked up 2 quick fouls. In contrast the Phoenix shot well and lept ahead 20-10 after 9 minutes of play. But Towson rallied and came back in the last 5 minutes of the half to take a 36-34 lead when the buzzer sounded. Jon scored just 2 points but played well. SF Wayne Burrough was the Tigers top scorer with 8 points. Charles Barnes was better than I thought, scoring 15 points for the Phoenix.

Towson held onto a small lead the entire 2nd half but never was able to pull away and create a comfortable lead. But the Tigers did enough to win by a final score of 80-73.

Jon scored just 3 points, but also had 3 assists and 2 steals. PG Shaun White scored 22, SG Dominick Collins put in 15 points plus had 8 rebounds, C Donny Flint had 13 points, 5 assists and 9 rebounds, and SF Wayne Burrough added 10 points. SF Charles Barnes scored 23 points for Elon. Hmm...so OK, he's pretty good.

The win moved Towson into a 5-way tie for 2nd place, one game behind 3-0 Hofstra.