ATLANTA, Ga. ? Towson experienced a shooting nightmare that delighted Georgia State as the Panthers rolled to a 68-46 Colonial Athletic Association victory over the Tigers Saturday afternoon in the Sports Arena.
The loss was the fourth straight in the league for the Tigers who dropped to 7-12 overall and 2-5 in the conference. Georgia State, picked in the pres-season to finish 6th in the league this year, improved to 5-13 and 3-4 in the CAA, snapping a four-game losing streak. The win enables the Panthers to pull even in their series with the Tigers at 4-4.
The Tigers finished the contest making just 16 of 59 field goal attempts for a 27.1 per cent effort from the floor, the 10th lowest field goal percentage in program history. They were 4 of 27 from three-point range. Josh Thornton scored a team high 17 points for Towson, hitting three treys in the final 4:16 of the contest that helped to keep the game from getting out of hand any further.
The first half was slow to develop, especially for the Tigers who shot 7-30 from the floor in the opening session. They were 0-11 from beyond the arc.
After the first 10 minutes the Tigers had a 10-7 lead. The advantage disappeared, however, when the Panthers rallied, going on an 8-0 run to jump ahead 15-10 at the 7:28 mark. That's when Georgia State turned it up another notch, outscoring the Tigers 15-7 the rest of the way to take a 30-17 lead into halftime.
The situation worsened for the Tigers at the outset of the second half. Jarrel Smith hit a short jumper for Towson out of the gate. Rashad Chase countered 27 seconds later when he sank two free throws to start the Panthers on a 12-0 run that put Georgia State out front by 23, 42-19. Towson didn't have enough gas in the tank to catch up. Georgia State led by as many as 30 (63-33) with 5:08 remaining.
Thornton was the only Towson player in doube figures. Leading scorer Junior Hairston was checked for two points on 1-9 shooting, and two rebounds before fouling out late in the contest. Robert Nwankwo matched his career high with nine rebounds.
Kevin Lott, who entered the game with eight total points for the entire season thus far, came off the bench to score a career high 14 points to lead the Panthers, who shot 41 per cent from the floor.
The Tigers are back in action this Wednesday night when they travel to Harrisonburg, Va. to face James Madison in a rematch. Towson won the first game between the two schools this year 58-57 on two Junior Hairston free throws with 45 seconds remaining in the Towson Center. The game will be carried in the metropolitan Baltimore area on WTMD (89.7 FM) Radio. A subscription base streaming of the game will also be available through the Tigers' website.
