NORFOLK, Va. ? It took Old Dominion most of the 40 minutes to finally put away the stubborn Tigers as the Monarchs had to rely on a late surge to beat Towson 71-62 in a Colonial Athletic Association contest Tuesday night in the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
The win was the 20th over Towson for Old Dominion in the 21-game series. The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-16 on the year and 3-9 in the CAA. The Monarchs improved to 14-8 and 7-5.
Critical turnovers and another cold night at the free throw line combined to dash Towson's hopes of an upset.
“Turnovers killed us,” said Tigers head coach Pat Kennedy. “We had too many of them.”
It wasn't so much the number of turnovers (15 for the game) as the damage they left in their wake, coming at inopportune times for the Tigers. Towson missed nine free throws, going 6 of 15 from the charity stripe.
Neither team could gain an advantage in the early going. After Robert Nwankwo's free throw tied the score at 16-16, the Monarchs broke loose on an 8-0 run that put Old Dominion on top. As the period wore on the Monarchs gained a 10-point lead by the 2:17 mark. The Tigers' 6-0 run to finish the first half trimmed that lead to four, 34-30, at the break.
The Tigers kept after the Monarchs at the outset of the second half. Jarrel Smith's three-point basket gave Towson its first lead, 39-38, since the 16:11 mark of the first half. The Tigers forged their biggest lead, 46-43, on a Calvin Lee jumper.
The Monarchs turned it around again, though, with a 7-0 run. With the score knotted at 51-51, ODU's Gerald Lee took charge, scoring nine of Old Dominion's next 11 points as the Monarchs went on to build a nine-point lead that proved too much for the Tigers to overcome..
Lee finished with a game high 19 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
Nwankwo led Towson with a balanced effort. He matched his career high with 13 points and grabbed a career high 13 rebounds in registering his first collegiate double-double. He also matched his career high with five blocks. Smith finished with 14 points. Troy Franklin added 12 points and five steals.
Leading scorer Junior Hairston was held to four points and three rebounds. Foul trouble limited him to 17 minutes on the floor before he finally fouled out late in the contest..
The Tigers are back on the court this Saturday when they travel to Hempstead for a 12 noon league contest against the Hofstra Pride. The game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and carried back to the metropolitan Baltimore area on WTMD (89.7 FM) Radio.
