VILLANOVA, Pa. -- The Towson men's basketball team committed a season-high 24 turnovers en route to dropping its first game of the season, a 78-44 setback to Villanova at the Pavilion on Sunday night.

James Bell scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Wildcats, who improve to 3-0 on the year. Jerrelle Benimon was the only Tiger to hit double figures, scoring 11 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists.

Towson (3-1), which had been averaging just 12 turnovers per game coming into Sunday's contest, had a tough time handling Villanova's pressure early on. The Tigers had 18 first half turnovers, which the Wildcats turned into 21 points. Towson was without the services of starting point guard Jerome Hairston for much of the first half as the sophomore picked up three early fouls and played just six minutes in the opening period.

Villanova jumped out to an early 14-2 lead with everyone in the starting lineup scoring. After just seven minutes, Towson had already committed 11 turnovers as the Wildcats led 18-4. Villanova held a 42-20 lead at the intermission.

The Wildcats used a 15-4 run out of the break and would lead by as many as 39 in the second half. Ryan Arcidiacono and JayVaughn Pinkston each scored 12 points for Villanova, which has outscored its opponents by an average of 27 points per game so far this season.

The Tigers did outrebound Villanova, 43-42, and held an edge in points in the paint (26-20) and second chance points (13-5).

Freshman John Davis was a bright spot for the Tigers off the bench, netting all nine of his points in the second half on 4-for-5 shooting. He also grabbed a game-high tying eight rebounds and swiped two steals in 18 minutes.

Sunday's game was part of the Battle 4 Atlantis, which stretches out over the rest of the month, including Towson's next game at No. 5 Kansas on November 22.


-TowsonTigers.com-