Towson University Athletics

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Men's Basketball 2.26.2012

Tigers Let Double Digit Second Half Lead Slip at JMU

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Towson freshman Kris Walden erupted for a career-high 23 points, but the Tigers let an 11-point second half lead evaporate in a 65-59 road loss to James Madison in both teams regular season finale Saturday.

Walden, who has scored 41 points in his last two games, shot 9-for-17 from the field and hit a career-high five three-pointers. The freshman point guard, who had just two turnovers in 39 minutes, also matched his career-high with four steals.

Towson (1-30, 1-17 CAA), which led 34-23 with 18:54 left in the game, was hurt by poor free throw shooting. After shooting a combined 61-for-87 (70.1 percent) from the charity stripe in the past four games, the Tigers made just nine of 21 attempts (42.9 percent) against the Dukes.

James Madison (12-19, 5-13 CAA) shot 20-for-29 from the foul line and the Dukes outrebounded the Tigers, 35-34, after losing the battle of the boards by 30 (49-19) when the squads met in Towson two weeks ago. Forward Andrey Semenov scored nine of his team-high 12 points in the second period to lead the Dukes.

In a first half that featured six ties and seven lead changes, James Madison took a three-point lead on a Humpty Hitchens triple with 6:04 remaining in the stanza. On Towson's next possession, freshman Will Adams canned a trey and sophomore Marcus Damas followed with a traditional three-point play to spark a 13-4 Tiger run to end the half. Towson led at the intermission (29-23) for the first time all season.

The Tigers increased their lead to 11, their largest lead in any game this season, after freshman Jervon Pressley converted a three-point play and Walden hit a jumper early in the second half. Trailing 34-23, the Dukes scored 12 of the next 16 points to cut the Towson lead to three with 15:49 to play.

After the teams exchanged buckets, Walden drilled a three and sophomore Erique Gumbs made two from the foul line to push the Tiger lead to 45-37.

With Towson leading 47-40 midway through the second stanza, James Madison tightened up on the defensive end and held the Tigers without a field goal for 4:35. During that span, the Dukes tallied 11 straight points to grab a 51-47 lead with 7:19 left in the game.

Damas would hit a jumper to stop the run and after a Gumbs free throw on the next Towson possession, the Tigers trailed by just one. Towson continued to work the ball down low and got James Madison into foul trouble. However, the Tigers missed six straight free throws in a 2:28 span and during that time, the Dukes built their lead to 56-52.

After Damas failed to finish a three-point play, JMU scored three straight to go up 59-52, its biggest lead of the game. Walden, who scored the final seven points of the game for Towson, made a tough layup gliding through traffic and hit a jumper on the next possession to bring the road team to within 59-56 with 45 seconds remaining. The Dukes wouldn't allow the Tigers any closer though, hitting six of eight from the free throw line in the final 37 seconds to wrap up a senior day victory.

Damas finished with 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting for his fifth straight game in double digits and 22nd on the year. Senior Robert Nwankwo had just three points on five shots, but the forward hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds and dished out a career-best four assists. His streak of six straight games scoring in double figures is snapped, but his 17 double-digit rebounding games this season is second best in the CAA.

After shooting just 32 percent in the first half, James Madison shot 12-for-25 (48 percent) and made 16 of 23 free throws in the second half.

Towson will now focus its attention on the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, which will be held March 2-5 at the Richmond Coliseum. The 12th-seeded Tigers will face No. 5 seed Delaware in the first round on Friday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m., with the winner taking on No. 4 seed Old Dominion during Saturday's quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m.

-TowsonTigers.com-

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