BOSTON, Mass. - An undermanned Towson squad surprised Northeastern by taking the lead but the Tigers couldn't hold it as the Huskies rallied for an 82-78 Colonial Athletic Association victory Wednesday night in Matthews Arena.
The Tigers (4-20) suffered their 13th straight loss and dropped to 0-14 in the league. Northeastern improved to 9-16 and 5-9 in the CAA.
Starting forward and leading rebounder Braxton Dupree was sidelined with an illness and a nagging injury. He never left the bench. To compound matters, the situation worsened when Erique Gumbs, who started in place of Dupree, picked up his third foul less than four minutes into the game. That sent him to the bench where he spent most of the game, playing just nine minutes.
Despite the hurdles the Tigers would have to overcome in order to be successful, they weren't intimidated and were determined to make a game out of it. In fact, they took an early lead and held it long enough to go into the lockeroom out front 40-34. It was just their fifth halftime lead of the season.
Towson worked to a six-point lead four times, the last courtesy of Dre Conner's three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining in the first period.
The Huskies took the Tigers more seriously in the second half. After a ho-hum shooting performance in the first half (12-27 for 44.4%) Northeastern seldom missed in the final session, going 16 of 22 (72.7%) from the floor as the Huskies rallied to take the lead away from Towson. Without a big presence inside to stop them the Huskies weren't a bit timid about driving Towson's lane for layups.
Towson finally surrendered the lead near the midway point. Northeastern caught Towson and tied the score at 48-48 on two Chaisson Allen free throws. There were two more ties and three lead changes before the Huskies broke on top with a mini 5-0 run that produced a 58-53 Huskies' advantage. The Tigers never regained the lead but Northeastern's margin was never greater than eight, 76-68 at the 2:50 mark.
Three-point baskets by Brian Morris and RaShawn Polk in the final 27 seconds trimmed Northeastern's lead to two, but the Tigers had to foul immediately. Jonathan Lee, an 85% free throw shooter on the season, hit four straight at the charity stripe to preserve the Huskies' victory and give Northeastern a 12-11 advantage in the series.
Isaiah Philmore paced the Tigers with a game high 25 points and eight rebounds. For the second time this season he played the entire 40 minutes. Polk finished with 18 points and Morris added 15. Allen, the CAA's fourth leading scorer, led the Huskies with 21 points.
The Tigers are back in action again this Saturday when they host UNC Wilmington at 2:00 p.m. The game will televised by Comcast SportsNet and carried locally by WBAL (1090 AM) Radio.
