TOWSON, Md. - One of three seniors playing in his final home game at the Towson Center, senior guard Josh Brown scored a game high 21 points but the Tigers couldn't post a victory over Drexel in the regular season finale for both teams.
Sophomore guard Derrick Thomas, who scored a team high 19 points, canned two free throws with 17 seconds remaining as the Dragons (20-9, 11-7) earned their third consecutive victory, a 66-63 Colonial Athletic Association win over the Tigers (4-25, 0-18) on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Dragons claimed the number five seed for next weekend's CAA Tournament at Richmond, Va. The Dragons will face 12th-seeded Towson in a rematch of Saturday's finale. Drexel and Towson will meet on Friday, March 4 at 2:30 p.m. at Richmond Coliseum.
En route to their 20th victory of the season, the Dragons had to survive a furious Tiger comeback.
The Dragons, who led for the entire second half, took a 63-56 lead with 3:59 remaining on a rebound slam dunk by freshman forward Dartaye Ruffin.
A pair of free throws by Brown cut the deficit to 63-58 before freshman guard Dre Conner made one of two free throws with two minutes remaining to cut the lead to 63-59. After Ruffin missed a one-and-one opportunity, sophomore forward Isaiah Philmore canned a short jump shot to pull the Tigers to within 63-61 with 1:55 left.
The Dragons upped their lead to 64-61 when Thomas hit one of two free throw attempts with 1:27 left. After the Tigers came up empty on their next possession, Philmore blocked a shot by Samme Givens. With 39 seconds left, Conner was fouled. When he made both free throws, the Dragons' lead was down to 64-63.
Facing the Tiger full-court press, Ruffin turned the ball over, giving the Tigers a chance to win with 37 seconds remaining.
With a chance to take the lead, the Drexel defense came to life. After Brown missed a driving layup, junior forward Braxton Dupree rebounded and missed a tip-in. He rebounded his own miss and missed another tip-in before Thomas grabbed the rebound with 17 seconds left and was fouled.
His free throws gave Drexel a 66-63 advantage. The Dragons protected their lead with tremendous perimeter defense as the Tigers were forced to try a pair of off-balance three-pointers.
"It was another incredible effort, but we couldn't pull it out," said Towson Coach Pat Kennedy. "As I said to our guys when we came into the locker room, we almost feel like we've been cursed for some odd reason."
The loss was Towson's seventh CAA loss decided by four points or less.
"We had an unbelievable drive to the basket by Josh, a layup that would normally go in and then we had two Braxton point-blank range putbacks," he added.
Brown scored 15 first half points as the Tigers owned a 26-22 lead with 5:48 left in the half.
After a first half which included four ties and five lead changes, the Dragons grabbed a 35-32 lead at intermission. Drexel shot 53.6 per cent from the floor in the first half.
The Dragons came out strong in the second half and connected on their first six shots from the floor to build a 48-40 lead with 14:54 remaining.
From there, the Dragons relied on their offensive rebounding to maintain their lead. In the game, the Dragons had 13 offensive rebounds and scored 17 second chance points. With 5:48 left, Drexel scored three consecutive baskets on offensive rebounds as the Dragons held on to a seven-point lead.
Thomas shot 7-for-11 from the floor and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Dragons with a 19-point effort. Ruffin made 6 of 12 field goal attempts with nine rebounds while scoring 15 points.
Sophomore Daryl McCoy scored eight points and grabbed a game high 13 rebounds.
The Dragons were able to win despite the fact that the Tigers blocked nine shots. Dupree and Philmore combined to block nine shots as Dupree had a career high five blocks. Philmore also added a career best four blocks.
While Brown led the Tigers with a game high 21 points, Philmore posted his fourth "double double" of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Brown shot 8-for-13 from the field and made all three shots from three-point range. He also had two rebounds and two assists.
Philmore shot 6-for-10 from the floor. Dupree scored eight points for the Tigers and also had ten rebounds.
In addition to Brown, graduate student Brian Morris and forward Danny Quinn also played in the final home games of their career. Morris scored seven points while Quinn did not score in his home finale.
The loss was the Tigers' 17th in a row and enabled Towson to become the first team in CAA history to finish the regular season with an 0-18 record.
"I feel for our guys because they've shown incredible character," added Kennedy. "They've played their hearts out. I've seen teams go through this and they just give up and they turn away from one another. These guys have just been an absolute joy to be with every day. They just keeping coming back."
