NORFOLK, Va. - Junior forward Jerrelle Benimon posted 21 points and 17 rebounds for his NCAA-leading 15th double-double as Towson topped Old Dominion, 68-66, on Wednesday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

The win improves Towson to 11-12 overall and 6-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association. It also gives the Tigers their ninth win away from home this season, their most since the 1995-96 season.

Old Dominion, which had won the last 18 meetings against Towson and had not lost to the Tigers since 2002, falls to 2-18 overall and 0-8 in league play.

The 21-point effort from Benimon gives the junior 11 straight double figure scoring games and six games this season with 20 or more points. His 17 rebounds tied the Constant Center individual opponent record set by Jason Thompson of Rider on March 18, 2008. Benimon also added five blocked shots to his stat line.

Joining Benimon in double figures were juniors Marcus Damas (15), Rafriel Guthrie (14) and Mike Burwell (10). Graduate student Bilal Dixon grabbed 10 rebounds, his sixth game this season with 10 or more boards.

Damas and Burwell combined for 21 points and seven rebounds in the first half as the Tigers, who led by as many as 16, took a 40-26 lead into halftime.

The Monarchs stormed back out of the intermission, scoring the first 10 points of the second half and using a 17-2 run to take a 43-42 lead at the 11:28 mark.

ODU led 55-54 with 5:42 remaining until Benimon scored six points during an 8-2 Towson run that gave the Tigers a 62-57 lead.

Towson maintained its five-point lead with under a minute to play until ODU senior DeShawn Painter banked in a three-pointer to cut the Tiger lead to 66-64 with 30 seconds remaining. Freshman Jerome Hairston then hit one of two from the free throw line to put Towson up three. On the other end, Dimitri Batten missed a floater that would have gotten the home team to within one and Benimon hauled in the rebound and was fouled.

Benimon hit one of two from the free throw line to seal the victory.

Towson grabbed a season-high 49 rebounds to ODU's 34 in a matchup of the two best rebounding teams in the CAA. The Tigers had 22 offensive rebounds and 20 second chance points.

Towson returns home on Monday to take on UNC Wilmington at 7 p.m.

-TowsonTigers.com-