BALTIMORE – Led by Brian Starr and Zane Martin, the Towson University men's basketball team claimed a 95-72 road victory over Loyola in a non-conference contest at Reitz Arena Friday night.
 
Starr's brilliant all-around effort and Martin's dominating second half scoring show helped Towson end a three-game road losing streak and spoil the Greyhounds home opener. The balanced Tigers had five players finish with double digit point totals.
 
Defensively, the Tigers, sporting gold uniforms, resembled a swirling mass of bees that attacked Loyola ballhandlers with merciless fury especially in the first half when they sprinted to a 20-point halftime bulge. Towson held Loyola without a field goal for nearly seven minutes during a breathtaking first-half stretch.
 
Quotable
Starr on Towson's performance.
"We hedged on ball screens, stayed in front of their guards, used our length well and did a good job of closing out on most of their shots. I think that made the difference in the game. Offensively, I felt like the ball was moving a lot more, we were able to set good screens and that helped get a lot of people open looks. It made everything easy for us."
 
Martin on Towson's depth and commitment.
"Coach preaches trust all day long. We just trust each other. Whoever is hot, we're going to trust that they will keep us hot. We've built a certain type of trust with one another and that makes it easy to sacrifice our egos. Our goal is to win as a team this year so we're all willing to do whatever needs to be done to accomplish that goal."
 
Records
Towson           2-1
Loyola             0-3
 
How It Happened

• Starr was perfect from the field in finishing with a career-high 21 points.
• In sweeping through Loyola's defense like a cleansing wind, Starr was 7-of-7 from the field, 3-of-3 from 3-point distance and 4-of-5 from the foul line.
• Attacking in quick, lethal strikes, Starr was an equal opportunity scorer as he tallied 12 points in the first half and nine after intermission.
• Starr added a career best six assists.
• Martin scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half.
• Justin Gorham and Deshaun Morman supplied endless energy off the bench by combining for 25 points.
• Gorham made his first five shots and finished with a career best 13 points.
• Morman collected 12 points while finishing with a team best seven rebounds.
• Mike Morsell scored 12 points, including the 1,100th of his career.
• Towson missed its first five shots and fell into a quick 4-0 hole.
• Once the Tigers found their shooting touch, they were a sight to behold.
• The Tigers shot 60.7 percent in the first half as they raced to a 45-25 halftime lead.
• After Cam Gregory's dunk pulled Loyola to within 23-16 with 8:01 remaining, Towson took control of the contest with a 17-4 burst.
• Starr scored seven straight points during the run, which was capped off by a Jordan McNeil layup off of a steal.
• Loyola scored the first point of the second half. Towson responded by scoring 12 straight points to open a 57-26 lead with 17 minutes remaining.
• The highlight of the second half was Tunstall's alley-oop dunk off of a Martin pass.
• Cam Gregory led Loyola with 17 points and Isaiah Hart added 14 markers.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Towson extended its winning streak to nine over Baltimore schools.
• The Tigers are 17-2 against Maryland opponents since the start of the 2013 season.
• The Tigers have won three straight games against Loyola, their first such streak against the Greyhounds since 1994-96.
• Towson made a season best eight 3-pointers.
• This was the second straight season Towson led Loyola by at least 20 points at intermission.
• Eddie Keith II and Justin Gorham had six rebounds each.
• Towson has at least three players finish with six or more rebounds in each contest.
• Towson had 18 assists on 34 baskets.
• This is the fourth time in the 74-game history of the series that Towson has scored more than 90 points against Loyola.
• Towson's 95 points are the most scored against Loyola since it tallied 104 on Feb. 20, 1989.
• Three of Towson's 90-point games against Loyola have occurred on the road.
• Towson snapped a three-game road losing streak.
• Morsell, who reached double figures for the 55th time, has scored 1,111 career points.
• Towson made 61.8 percent (34-for-55) of its shots.
• The last time Towson shot 60 percent for an entire game was against Delaware on Jan. 8, 2007. Towson was 62.5 percent (25-for-40) in a 75-68 victory.

 
Up Next
The Tigers return to action in the Gulf Coast Showcase when they face Florida Atlantic Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Estero, Fla.