NORFOLK, Va. – The Towson University men's basketball team dropped a fiercely fought 57-54 decision to Old Dominion at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in a non-conference contest Friday night.
 
Zane Martin and Mike Morsell combined for 37 points as Towson's late rally from a nine-point second half deficit fell short.
 
Despite not making a basket for nearly nine minutes of the second half, Towson had the ball with a chance to win the game in the final 20 seconds. A last second three-point shot attempt hit the front of the rim and the Monarchs grabbed the rebound.
 
Quotable
Towson head coach Pat Skerry on the game.
"ODU is a great opponent for a first game because you're playing a postseason team that's well coached. I was proud of our effort and I liked our resiliency. The lesson for us is when you're playing a really good team on the road you have to have really good effort plus execution. Everybody's going to talk about the last shot. We had a dozen other plays during the game that we didn't execute. We have a lot of work to do in order to get to where we want to get. This game will help us later on. I like how we guarded and  rebounded."
 
Records
Towson           0-1
ODU               1-0
 
How It Happened

• Martin finished with 22 points, scoring 11 in each half.
• Martin made his first three 3-point shot attempts – all in the first half.
• Overall, Martin made four triples.
• Morsell added 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
• Towson won the rebounding battle, 46-31.
• A trio of Tigers (Justin Gorham, Dennis Tunstall and Martin) led the Tigers with seven rebounds each.
• Towson trailed 55-48, with 2 minutes, 8 seconds remaining.
• The Tigers scored six straight points capped by a Martin 3-pointer that pulled Towson to within, 55-54, with 46 seconds remaining.
• Towson held ODU without a field goal and two points over the final 2:08.
• The Tigers led 29-28 at intermission.
• ODU was led in scoring by B.J. Stith, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half.

Inside the Numbers

• Martin came within one point of tying his career high established last year at Hofstra.
• This was Martin's second career game with at least 20 points.
• Martin's seven rebounds were a career best.
• In reaching double figures for the 54^th time in his career, Morsell raised his career point total to 1,090.
• Morsell moved past Mel Land and into 21st place on the Towson all-time scoring list.
• Gorham tied his career best rebounding total. It's the third time in his career with at least seven rebounds.
• ODU had 10 blocked shots with four players finishing with at least two each.
• Towson led for 2:14.
• The Tigers attempted 11 of their 14 free throws in the second half.
• Nine Tigers played double digit minutes.
• Six Towson players had at least four rebounds.
• Eddie Keith II scored Towson's first points of the 2017-18 season on a putback with 17:17 left in the first half.

 
Up Next
Towson returns home to host Frostburg State Monday night at 7 p.m.