Towson University Athletics

Scoreboard

Men's Basketball 1.12.2012

Tribe Pull Away In Final Minutes To Upend Tigers

TOWSON, Md. – Bidding for its first victory of the season, Towson University (0-17, 0-5) scored the first six points of the game and led for most of the first half before William & Mary (4-13, 2-3) rallied in the final 11 minutes to hand the Tigers a 66-49 loss in a Colonial Athletic Association game in the Towson Center on Wednesday night.

A trio of Tigers scored in double figures, led by sophomore Marcus Damas' 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting. Senior Robert Nwankwo chipped in 11 points to go along with eight rebounds and three blocks while freshman Deon Jones netted 10 points for the second consecutive game.

Preseason All-CAA First Team selection Quinn McDowell scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and was integral during a 16-0 Tribe run which broke open a tie game late in the second half. The Tigers went nearly eight minutes without scoring a point as William & Mary took control of the contest, 58-42, with 3:39 remaining at the conclusion of the spurt.

The Tigers, who fell behind by 33-26 early in the second half, rallied to tie the game with 11:09 remaining when Damas swiped a steal and hit a short fastbreak jumper to even the score at 42, the fifth tie of the game.

However, McDowell drained a three-pointer at the other end just 18 seconds later to give the Tribe a 45-42 advantage. Sophomore guard Julian Boatner hit back-to-back three-pointers to increase the lead to 51-42 with 8:23 left. After a driving layup by McDowell made it a 53-42 game, a three-point play by McDowell with 4:37 left upped the lead to 56-42. A layup by sophomore Tim Rusthoven with 3:39 remaining in the game capped off the 16-0 run, giving William & Mary a 58-42 advantage.

Damas finally ended the scoring drought for the Tigers by hitting a jumper with 3:14 left. During their scoring drought, the Tigers missed nine shots and turned the ball over twice.
McDowell, who shot 9-for-13 from the floor in the win, connected on four straight free throws in the final 52 seconds to up the Tribe's lead to 66-47 with 35 seconds left.

The Tigers, who led for most of the first half, scored the first six points of the game and owned a 12-5 lead midway through the opening half. After a three-point basket by senior Deyon Cook with 1:46 left in the first half gave the Tigers a 24-20 lead, the Tribe scored the final eight points of the half and owned a 28-24 lead at intermission.

After being held to 41.7 percent shooting in the first half, the Tribe shot 58.3 percent in the second half. William & Mary also made 5 of 10 three-pointers in the second half. The Tribe had a .500 field goal percentage for the game while Towson made only 38.5 percent of its shots.

While McDowell led the Tribe with 26 points, Boatner added 12 points as he connected on four of seven shots from three-point range.

Only eight players played in the game for Towson as freshman Will Adams missed his second consecutive game with an injury.

Towson returns to the road Saturday to take on Georgia State at 2 p.m.

-TowsonTigers.com-

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