TOWSON, Md. – Trailing by 17 points three minutes into the second half, the cardiac Towson University men's basketball team dug deep to unfurl a rally to remember. This one was extra special as the game was the Tigers' annual Autism Awareness game.
 
The Tigers treated their largest home crowd of the season to a dramatic, 82-80, triumph to savor over William & Mary Saturday afternoon in a pulse-pounder of a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) game. The win capped off a thrilling week of exciting and tense basketball at SECU Arena. Towson emerged with two hard-fought victories by a combined three points.
 
Mike Morsell delivered his second game-winning shot of the season, a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds remaining that gave Towson, an 82-80 lead. It was Tigers' fourth lead of the entire game. Towson survived another potential game-winning shot chance from an opponent to extend its home court winning streak to seven games.
 
In ending William & Mary's four-game winning streak, the Tigers locked down on defense, relied on each other, refused to lose, and rallied from their fourth double-digit deficit of the season to win.
 
With the victory, Towson is tied for third place in the CAA with Elon and William & Mary.
 
Records
William & Mary          13-10 overall, 7-5 CAA
Towson                       15-10, 7-5
 
Quotable
Towson head coach Pat Skerry on the difference in the second half
"At halftime we decided to change our ballscreen coverage and switch everything. We decided to play a little smaller and that helped us. I am proud of our kids. This was a really good win against a good team. Zane and Dennis gave us big minutes today. It's been different guys on different nights for us.
 
Towson guard Eddie Keith II on the victory
"Wearing this jersey today and everything leading up to this game today was a big moment. Coach talked to us before the game and said that if we have juice in the tank especially on this day, this would mean a lot to me. We were down early and we dug down deep. We have a veteran group and everyone just dug deeper and stuck together. We are a deep team and we used that to our advantage."
 
Morsell on his game-winning shot and the atmosphere.
"It was a great atmosphere tonight and that helped our comeback. That shot is probably the biggest of my career so far. Coach Skerry told me to have my feet ready to shoot the ball. The defender jumped out early so I just pumped faked and shot the ball in the flow and it went in."
 
How It Happened

• Keith led Towson with a career-best 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
• Brian Starr had 13 points and five assists in 32 magnificent minutes.
• John Davis notched his second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds.
• Morsell, who made three of his last four shot attempts, added 11 points.
• After Brian Starr made two foul shots with 24 seconds remaining to bring Towson to within, 80-79, the Tigers forced a William & Mary turnover.
• Towson faced its largest deficit, 56-39, with 16:46 remaining following an acrobatic old-fashioned 3-point play by Daniel Dixon, who scored a game-high 23 points.
• That's when Towson went to work.
• Towson outscored William & Mary, 42-24, over the final 16:46.
• The Tigers held W&M to 30.4 percent shooting (7-for-23) over that stretch.
• William & Mary made 2-of-9 from the 3-point line and committed eight turnovers over that span.
• The Tribe opened a 61-45 lead with 14:10 remaining before Towson got busy.
• The Tigers got back in the game with an 11-0 run, a stretch in which they held W&M scoreless for 3:30 of the second half.
• Towson didn't catch William & Mary until Keith split a pair of foul shots with 3:49 remaining that tied the game at 73-73.
• Turning in solid efforts for the Tigers were Dennis Tunstall and Zane Martin during the Tigers' second half surge.
• William & Mary closed the first half with an 8-0 run to open a 46-33 lead at intermission.
• Tigers were held scoreless over the final 3:16 of the first half and missed their final six shots.
• Towson also found itself trailing because it committed 12 first half turnovers.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Towson has won seven of its last eight games.
• The Tigers are 8-0 when scoring at least 80 points.
• This is the fifth time in its last eight games, Towson has topped 80 points.
• Towson has won three straight against William & Mary for the first time in program history.
• This is the fourth time in the last five years, Towson has won at least 15 regular season games.
• Towson won the rebounding battle, 49-27. It's the 14th time this season, Towson has finished with at least 40 boards.
• This was Davis' seventh double-double of the season and the 22nd of his awesome career.
• Davis has 701 career rebounds. He is the seventh Towson player in program history with at least 700 rebounds.
• He moved past Larry Witherspoon and into seventh place. Next up for Davis is Jerrelle Benimon, who has 750 rebounds.
• Davis averaged 16 rebounds in two wins this week for Towson.
• Davis, who leads Towson with 18 double-digit scoring games this season, also upped his career point total to 1,092.
• This was the third time this season Towson overcame a double-digit halftime deficit to win. Tigers trailed FDU by 10 and UMBC by 13.
• For Morsell, it was his second game-winning shot of the season. He made the winning basket against UMBC.
• Morsell reached double figures in scoring for the 16th time this season and 49th time in his career.
• This was the third time in the last six games, Keith has hit for double-digits.
• Starr tied his career best with five assists.
• Towson got 51 points from its bench, the second straight game it contributed at least 50 points.
• After going to the foul line three times in the first half, Towson attempted 24 free throws in the second half.
• Towson is 42-16 all-time in SECU Arena.
• Attendance was 3,431.

 
Up Next
Towson concludes its three-game homestand when it hosts Hofstra Thursday at 7 p.m. It will be First Responders Appreciation Night. The Tigers beat Hofstra, 86-80, in New York on Jan. 19.