OAKLAND, Pa. – The Towson University men's basketball team dropped a 63-59 decision to the University of Pittsburgh at the Petersen Events Center Friday night.
 
Despite the loss, Towson finished its nonconference schedule with 10 victories, the most in its Division I era.
 
Records
Towson 10-3
Pitt 8-5
 
Quotable
Towson head coach Pat Skerry overall assessment of the game.
"Good ball game and obviously we're disappointed. Give Pitt credit. They hung in there and made some plays late. I thought we had them on the ropes a couple of times. We're too experienced to make a couple errors that we made, but that falls on me and we've got to get that figured out. Give them credit, they kind of hung in there and stole it at the end. They beat us on the glass, which doesn't happen very often."
 
Skerry on Towson's press and defense that forced 21 turnovers.
We struggled the other night trying to press Oakland because we fouled too much and they were fast and dynamic. Our press was very effective tonight. One it caused turnovers and two it was able to eat the shot clock."
 
How It Happened

• Sophomore guard Zane Martin scored a game-high 20 points.
• Junior guard Mike Morsell added 11 points.
• Sophomore forward Justin Gorham finished with eight points and eight rebounds.
• Pitt took the lead for good on a Jonathan Milligan floater with 52 seconds remaining.
• The Tigers had three chances to tie the game in the final minute, but missed two shots and committed a turnover.
• With the game knotted at 59-59, Towson missed a pair of foul shots with 1:19 remaining.
• Pittsburgh scored the final seven points of the game.
• The Panthers made six of their final seven shots.
• Towson didn't score for the final 2 minutes, 49 seconds.
• Early in the second half, it appeared as if the Tigers had command of the contest.
• Dennis Tunstall tipped home a missed shot to give Towson a 51-42 lead with 6:59 left.
• During the game, the Tigers led by nine on three different occasions.
• Towson had the ball with a chance to extend its lead and couldn't.
• Pitt used a 14-2 run to bridge each half to reverse a nine-point deficit and take a 30-27 lead early in the second half.
• Parker Stewart (13 points), Terrell Brown (12), and Jared Wilson-Frame (10) finished with double digits for the Panthers.

 
Inside the Numbers

• This was Martin's eighth game scoring at least 20 points.
• Martin scored 16 of Towson's 32 points in the second half.
• The Tigers led for 27:51.
• Pitt's largest lead was four points.
• Pittsburgh won the battle of the boards, 48-34.
• After shooting 1-of-16 in the first half from 3-point distance, the Panthers made 6-of-12 in the second half.
• Towson's defense limited Pitt to 39.3 percent shooting.
• The Tigers turned 21 Pitt turnovers into 21 points.
• Justin Gorham led Towson with eight rebounds.
• Brian Starr hauled down six boards.
• Dennis Tunstall had a career best four blocked shots.
• Tunstall has nine blocked shots over Towson's last four games.

 
Up Next
Towson returns to action when it begins Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play at the College of Charleston on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 4:00 p.m.