CATONSVILLE, Md. – The Towson University men's basketball team has several championship qualities that do not appear on traditional rosters provided to spectators and commentators: Heart, grit and toughness.
 
In showcasing all of those terrific attributes along with some suffocating defense after intermission, Towson erased a 15-point second half deficit and escaped from a 13-point halftime hole to edge host UMBC, 73-72, in a thriller that left the standing room only crowd hoarse and a national audience watching on ESPN3 captivated Saturday night at the RAC Arena in a memorable non-conference matchup.
 
Towson junior guard Mike Morsell, who notched his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, scored the decisive basket with 11.7 seconds remaining after dribbling twice to his right, spinning back to the middle, and banking in a tough shot while absorbing contact. Towson's defense made the lead stand up by forcing a UMBC missed shot off of the front of the rim as time expired.
 
"A win like this shows that we are a gritty team that can find a way to win even when we don't play our best," Morsell said. "This environment was very hostile tonight and with all the people here, it was loud. It was hard to hear at certain points during the game. We were able to grind through some tough moments to get the win."
 
Extending their winning streak to three games overall and eight over Baltimore-area schools wasn't easy. The Tigers scored the final six points of the game to beat UMBC for the fourth consecutive time.
 
Late in the game after the Tigers clawed to a brief 59-57 lead, UMBC made a pair of ridiculous 3-pointers that would have deflated most ordinary teams – a 3-point bank shot from 27 feet away and another in which the ball sat on the back of the rim for about five seconds before bouncing in. Both shots occurred in the final three minutes and energized the raucous UMBC crowd.  
 
"Those shots are very deflating," Morsell said of UMBC's 3-pointers late in the game. "I am not going to lie. We have good chemistry on our team where we stick together and push through tough times and difficult moments. That's what we did tonight and this is a very satisfying win for us."
 
Records
Towson 7-4
UMBC 7-3
 
How It Happened

• Deshaun Morman added a team best 17 points for Towson.
• Arnaud William Adala Moto scored 13 points including the 1,000th of his collegiate career and John Davis reached double figures for the seventh straight game with 10 points and nine rebounds.
• Trailing 72-67 with 1:46 remaining, Towson held UMBC scoreless for the rest of the game.
• Towson forced UMBC into three missed shots while making 4-of-6 from the foul line to close to within, 72-71 with 49 seconds remaining. That set the stage for Morsell's game-winning drive to the basket.
• Towson made 65.5 percent of its shots after intermission (19-for-29).
• After UMBC made 53.1 percent in the first half, it shot 40 percent in the second half.
• The Tigers outrebounded UMBC, 22-9, in the second half.
• Morsell, Adala Moto and Morman combined for 29 of Towson's 46 second half points.
• This was the second straight game Towson overcame a double-digit halftime deficit to win. Last week, the Tigers overcame a 10-point halftime hole in their win over Fairleigh Dickinson.
• Towson decided to up the degree of difficulty by going the final 10:05 of the first half without a field goal and trailing 40-27 at halftime.
• The Tigers trailed, 42-27, 28 seconds into the second half.
• Fueled by a one-handed breakaway dunk from Morman and a two-handed flush from Adala-Moto, Towson used a 23-8 burst to tie the game at 50 with 10:54 remaining.
• All 10 Tigers who saw action hit the scoring column.
• The first half was the Will Darley show, as he scored 19 of his game-high 22 points for UMBC.
• However, Towson's defense clamped down and allowed him three points in the second half. He scored one point over the final 16:45 of the game.
• UMBC ended the first half on a 20-7 run.
• Also reaching double digits for UMBC were Joe Sherburne (18 points) and Jarius Lyles (11 points, nine rebounds).

 
Inside the Numbers

• Adala Moto scored 402 points in two years at Wake Forest and has scored 604 in a little over a year at Towson.
• He has 1,006 career points.
• Adala Moto has scored in double figures nine times this season and 32 times during his career.
• For Morman, it was his sixth double digit game of the season and the eighth of his career.
• Morman has at least three assists in four straight games.
• This was the third straight game that Morsell has finished with at least six rebounds.
• This was Davis' 100th career game.
• Davis has scored in double figures in seven straight games.
• Morsell has reached double digits in scoring 10 times this season and 43 for his career.
• Morsell scored 10 of his points and grabbed six rebounds in the second half.
• Jordan McNeil made two huge three-pointers during the game, the second time this season he has finished with multiple triples in a game.
• There were 13 lead changes and six ties.
• Towson finished with 40 points in the paint, the third time this season the Tigers scored that many points in the paint.
• In its last two games, Towson is shooting 60.6 percent (37-for-61) in the second half.
• Towson has shot at least 50 percent in the second half five times this season.
• Towson improved to 16-2 against schools in the state of Maryland since the start of the 2012-13 season.
• Towson is 3-2 on the road this season.

 
Up Next
Towson competes in the South Point Holiday Classic in Las Vegas. It will meet Nevada (9-2) on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time and Iona (7-3) on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. ET.