HAMPTON, Va. - Hampton's sluggish offense awoke and put up a season high in points as the Pirates (8-2) handed the Tigers (3-6) a 78-67 setback Monday night.
Hampton, ranked 321 in scoring offense nationally, rang up 45 first half points on the Tigers. But while the Pirates' offense had been sputtering, their defense was one of the best in Division I, ranked fourth because it was allowing just 54.0 points per game. Even though Hampton's defense gave up more than its average, its offense overachieved as the Pirates beat the Tigers for the first time in the three-game series.
The Tigers trailed early but caught the Pirates on an Erique Gumbs put back that knotted the score at 18-18. Charles Funches then made a free throw to break the tie. RaShawn Polk's follow on Towson's next possession gave Towson a 20-19 advantage.
Hampton's Kwame Morgan, who entered the contest shooting 18 of 72 from beyond the arc, buried one of his four first half treys to ignite a 15-2 Pirates' run that broke it open for the hosts. Towson would trail the rest of the way. Morgan finished the game with 12 points.
"We failed to make the defensive plays we needed to make to be successful," said Tiger head coach Pat Kennedy. "Down the stretch we couldn't hit a shot and missed free throws hurt us."
The Tigers committed 17 turnovers and missed seven free throws, six of them in the second half.
With 2:26 left in the opening period Hampton had its biggest lead of the session, 43-28. The Tigers closed with a 7-2 run to cut the Pirates' lead to 45-35 at the break.
The Tigers changed to a man-to-man defense in the second half. That slowed the Pirates down and gave Towson a chance to catch up. The Tigers had the opportunities but couldn't get over the hump. They narrowed the gap to six points twice, 61-55 (6:53) and 63-57 (6:11) but the Pirates answered each rally.
The final blow came just inside the three-minute mark when Hampton's leading scorer Derrion Pellum nailed a three-pointer followed by Chris Tolson's trey that gave Hampton a 12-point lead (75-63).
Pellum, who was averaging 18.0 points per game, was checked for 14 points but the Tigers had no answer for Funches who dominated the inside with a career high 26 points and a game high 12 rebounds.
Polk paced the Tigers with 16 points. Freshman point guard Dre Conner, making his second start, poured in a career high 15 points. Braxton Dupree added 14 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 5:10 left to play in the contest.
Towson is right back on the court again Wednesday afternoon when the Tigers host the Princeton Tigers in a 4:00 p.m. contest, followed by the Towson women hosting Richmond.
