ELON, N.C. – The run came as the Towson University men's basketball team knew it would. Playing on the road in front of packed house, the Tigers had a feeling their carefully constructed 11-point second half bulge would be under siege for the remainder of the game.
 
It didn't matter that Elon rallied to take a trio of one point leads late in the entertaining contest. Towson was prepared and had all the answers. The balanced Tigers remained poised, made winning plays down the stretch and got clutch performances to escape Elon with an 81-77 victory in a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) contest at Alumni Gym Saturday night.
 
After securing their third winning season in six years under head coach Pat Skerry's leadership, the Tigers (17-8 overall, 8-4 CAA) return home in the middle of the CAA championship chase. The greatest show in the CAA will perform in its friendly environment of SECU Arena in four of its next five games.
 
How It Happened

• A human eraser, Senior Timajh Parker-Rivera blocked Luke Eddy's potential game-tying shot with five seconds remaining to preserve Towson's 79-77 advantage.
• Parker-Rivera gave the Tigers the lead for good, 72-71, with a layup off of a William Adala-Moto pass with 5 minutes, 14 seconds remaining.
• Completing his personal highlight reel, Parker-Rivera stole a pass and drove the length of the floor for a two-handed dunk midway through the second half.
• Adala-Moto scored eight of his game-high 27 points in the final seven minutes to help close out the Phoenix.
• Adala-Moto made a corner three-pointer that gave Towson its largest advantage of the contest, 61-50 with 11:51 remaining.
• In sticking to defenders like Old Bay seasoning on crabs, Eddie Keith II played terrific defense in 24 minutes and nailed a pair of foul shots with 3.6 seconds remaining to help Towson enjoy a happy bus trip home.
• Towson didn't have a field goal for the final 4:07 and scored its final seven points from the free-throw line.
• After falling behind, 71-70, Towson forced Elon into six straight missed shots and held it scoreless for 2:53.
• John Davis set the tone for Towson in the second half by scoring 10 of his 12 points in the first six minutes to help the Tigers open a 58-48 lead with 13:50 remaining.
• Mike Morsell was spectacular during the opening half, scoring 12 of his 15 points to help Towson take a 41-38 halftime lead.
• Among Morsell's highlights was a deep 3-pointer late in the first half and an amazing offensive rebound, in which he leaped three Elon defenders in a single bound to put home a missed shot.
• Behind Dmitri Thompson, who scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the opening half, the Phoenix surged to a pair of six-point leads at 16-10 and 19-13.

 
Inside the Boxscore

• In finishing with 20 or more points for the fourth time this season, Adala-Moto finished one point shy of his career-high scoring total.
• Adala-Moto was 9-of-13 from the field and tied a season-high with three steals.
• For Parker-Rivera, this was his third straight game scoring in double figures.
• Parker-Rivera had a season-high four blocked shots.
• He blocked Elon's first and last shot of the contest.
• Playing in his 123rd game, Parker-Rivera upped his career rebounding total to 627 and blocked shot total to 119.
• Morsell reached double digits in scoring for the 19th time this season.
• It's the third time this season Morsell has finished with at least eight rebounds.
• In his last three games, Morsell is averaging six rebounds.
• Davis scored in double figures for the third consecutive Saturday.
• In his last three Saturday games, Davis is averaging 17.6 points per game.
• Josh Ivory played a season-high 23 minutes in his first start.
• The game featured eight ties and 18 lead changes.
• Elon turned 15 Towson turnovers into 22 points.
• Towson raised its record to 7-1 in games following a loss.
• The Tigers improved to 5-2 in CAA road games.
• This is the third time under Skerry, Towson has won at least 17 games.
• Towson won the rebounding battle (34-27) for the 21st time this season.
• This is the fifth time since joining the CAA in 2001, that Towson has won at least eight conference contests.
• The Tigers improved to 3-0 in regular season meetings all-time against Elon.
• Towson upped its record to 7-0 when it scores 80 or more points.
• The Tigers are 16-0 when leading at halftime.
• Towson finished a tough stretch of playing four of five road games with a 4-1 record.
• The Tigers are 17-8 for the first time since the 1993-94 season.
• This is the eighth time since Towson became a Division I program that it has won at least 17 games in a single season. Three of those times have been under Skerry.

 
Quotable
Parker-Rivera on his blocked shot at the end of the game.
"Eddie cut him off pretty well and I could see he off-balanced on the spin. I knew I could make a play on the ball and it just worked out for me. Tonight was a great team win for us. It's always great to win on the road in this conference."
 
Up Next
Towson returns home to host Northeastern Thursday night at 7 p.m.