BRACKETBUSTERS CONTEST: Tigers are in the Big Apple to face the Jaspers of Manhattan College in Draddy Gymnasium in a first-ever meeting as one of 49 games scheduled in the eighth annual ESPNU BracketBusters. The Tigers are 1-2 in their brief BracketBusters history. They bowed to Bucknell in Lewisburg three years ago. Two years ago they downed High Point at home. Last year they were beaten by local rival Morgan State in the Towson Center. Manhattan is a member of the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference. BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in NCAA Tournament play, will include all 12 teams from the Colonial Athletic Association. The event features 98 teams from 14 mid-major conferences. Drexel, James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Old Dominion, Towson and William & Mary are all road teams while Delaware, George Mason, Georgia State, Hofstra, Northeastern and VCU are playing their games at home. Manhattan is the only MAAC opponent on Towson's 2009-2010 schedule. The Tigers are 47-53 all-time against MAAC opponents. Of those 100 games, 68 have been played against local rival Loyola. Towson's record vs. the Greyhounds is 27-41 in a series that began in 1934 with Loyola winning the first 20 games. The Tigers are 20-12 all-time against the rest of the league.
MONARCHS RULED: Old Dominion ran its home victory streak to 22 as the undermanned Tigers were no match for the CAA leaders and bowed 78-67 to the Monarchs in the Constant Convocation Center. The Tigers dressed just seven players for the contest, leaving Josh Thornton (ankle), Jimmy Smith (illness) and Jarrel Smith (academic conflict) back on the Towson campus. The Monarchs took advantage of Towson's thin ranks and wore down the visitors to beat the Tigers for the 22nd time in the 23-game series.
Towson enjoyed early success, gaining the lead, 8-7, on Josh Brown's driving layup at the 15:51 mark. But a three-point play put the Monarchs out front again, 10-8. ODU started to run away with the game, using an 11-2 run to go up by eight. RaShawn Polk muscled his way inside for a couple of buckets and Robert Nwankwo scored in close to narrow the gap to two, 18-16 but that would be as close as the Tigers would come the rest of the way. The Monarchs tried to wrap it up early but the Tigers hung around. ODU managed to score four points in the last 9.5 seconds of the first half to take a 38-31 lead at the break. Towson had trouble containing ODU's big guys, especially Keyon Carter and Hassell who combined with Gerald Lee for 42 points. The Monarchs outscored the Tigers 52-28 in the paint. ODU outrebounded the Tigers 39-28. Over half of the Monarchs' boards (21) were offensive. Polk led the Tigers with 16 points. Brown, Nwankwo and Isaiah Philmore each scored 11 points.
JASPERS FALL: Manhattan dropped a 74-56 decision to Fairfield despite a game high 18 points from junior guard Rico Pickett, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's leading scorer with a 17.8 average. The Stags led by as many as 24 points in the first period, thanks to a 23-2 run, including 16 unanswered points to take a 27-8 lead. Fairfield held a 43-25 advantage at intermission and led by double-figures the entire second half. Senior guard Darryl Crawford is also averaging double figures with a 14.5 clip. Crawford also leads the Jaspers off the boards with a 6.0 average. The Jaspers lead the MAAC in turnover margin (+3.08) and rank in the top of the league in free-throw shooting (68%).
