RICHMOND, Va. - (NOTE: Saturday's quarterfinal game against Northeastern will be televised live on the Comcast Network beginning at 8:30 p.m.). Towson advanced to the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association's 2009 Men's Championship Basketball Tournament for the third straight year, upsetting 6th-seeded Drexel 73-62 in a first round game that was no where near as close as the final score indicated. The victory moved the 11th-seeded Tigers (11-21) into a quarterfinal contest against 3rd-seeded Northeastern Saturday night at 8:30 in the Richmond Coliseum. The Huskies enjoyed a bye.
The quarterfinal game with Northeastern will be carried back to the metropolitan Baltimore area on WTMD (89.7 FM) Radio. It will be televised on Comcast Network, Comcast SportsNet New England, WSKY (Hampton Roads, VA), Cox Sports (Fairfax, VA), Time Warner Cable (Wilmington, NC) and ESPN Full Court.
The Dragons (15-14), who had swept Towson by taking both regular season games by scores of 60-53 and 78-65, were stunned when the Tigers jumped off to a 15-0 lead. It took Drexel almost seven minutes before it scored its first points. By then the Tigers had sprinted to a 15-0 lead. Towson's biggest lead in the game was by 26 points, 36-10, at the 1:52 mark of the opening session. The Tigers were out front 39-14 at the break.
It was just the eighth time this season that the Tigers held a halftime lead. It was their largest halftime lead since a year ago when the Tigers were up 31-13 at the half against Hofstra in a 2008 CAA tournament first round contest.
“We did an outstanding job defensively,” said Tiger head coach Pat Kennedy. “It was a great defensive win for us and we closed it out properly.”
Drexel made a run at the Tigers in the second half, closing to within eight points, 51-43, with 5:20 left in the game but a subsequent 8-2 run quickly put Towson up by 14, 59-45. That's when Drexel's strategy changed. The Dragons hacked away at the Tigers who sank 16 of 24 free throw attempts in the final 3:10 of the game. Towson finished 29 of 43 from the free throw line for the game.
There were a total of 53 personal fouls called, 33 were assessed against the Dragons. Three Drexel players were disqualified on fouls. A fourth Dragon was ejected for a flagrant foul.
Sharp shooting earned the Tigers their early lead. Towson shot 50 per cent from the floor to 17 per cent for Drexel in the first half. The Tigers were 9 of 10 from the charity stripe.
But Towson's hot hand cooled in the second half. The Tigers made just 7 of 21 field goal attempts. However, their 20 of 33 performance from the foul line made up for the other deficiency.
Senior Junior Hairston paced the Tigers with 24 points, hitting 7 of 11 from the floor. He was also 2-2 from three-point range, making the only two treys for the Tigers in the game. He was 8 of 12 from foul line.
Freshman Troy Franklin led the Tigers' parade at the charity stripe. He sank 9 of 11 attempts and finished with 13 points. Senior Rocky Coleman came off the bench to add 11 points. Sophomore forward Jarrel Smith had 10 points.
Friday's meeting with Northeastern will be the 21st between the two teams. The series is tied 10-10. The Huskies and Tigers met once during the regular season in Boston where Northeastern tagged Towson with a 68-53 loss. The Huskies sprinted to a 13-0 lead and never looked back, leading 35-17 at the half.
Towson has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament.
