TOWSON, Md. – Brian Fobbs erupted for a career best 33 points to lead the Towson University men's basketball team to a thrilling, 77-71 victory over rival UMBC in a non-conference contest at SECU Arena Tuesday.
Fobbs was special in making a career-high seven 3-pointers as the Tigers beat UMBC for a seventh consecutive time. He was 7-of-9 from deep. In two career games against UMBC, Fobbs has averaged 32.5 points per game. His previous career best scoring total was 32 points last year at UMBC.
His last 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining was pretty. Using a James Harden-like jab step, Fobbs froze his defender, who also stumbled backwards slightly and fired a rainbow that hit nothing but net. The shot sent the fans into a frenzy eliciting a prolonged period of oohs and ahs.
Fobbs had plenty of help as
Nakye Sanders scored 15 points and added eight rebounds.
Dennis Tunstall grabbed seven of his 10 rebounds in the second half as Towson outscored UMBC, 47-38, over the final 20 minutes. Tunstall also added nine points and a pair of blocked shots.
UMBC's Keondre Kennedy led four Retrievers in double figures with 15 points. Daniel Akin and L.J. Owens scored 13 points each for UMBC while K.J. Jackson ended with 12 points. Akin also had a team best eight rebounds.
Records
UMBC 5-6
Towson 5-5
Quotable
Towson head coach Pat Skerry on the victory.
"Nakye was really good. Dennis was really good. It was great to get Brian going. He's a great player, he's a great worker and a great teammate. He focused on little things tonight and the ball went in the basket. It's a good team win. I liked the way our guys collectively found a way to get it done in the last six minutes."
Fobbs on his scoring performance.
"For me, it was just being focused. Every coach on the staff talked to me and told me to relax and play my game. My teammates told me to be you especially Nakye. I would be walking and going to get something to eat and he would tell me to just be me, you can score the ball and play your game. That was really encouraging. When I am focused on winning, everything else falls into place."
Notes on Fobbs' Scoring Performance
- The 33 points is tied for the 12th best single-game scoring performance in Towson history with eight other players.
- This is the second time in his career that Fobbs finished with 30 or more points.
- The seven 3-pointers are the most in SECU Arena by a Towson student-athlete since the building opened in 2013.
- The seven 3-pointers are the second most in a single-game by a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) student-athlete this season.
- Fobbs is the fourth Towson player in program history to score at least 32 points in a single-game against UMBC.
- Fobbs and Devin Boyd are the only two Towson players with multiple 30 point games against UMBC. Boyd scored 46 on Feb. 27, 1993 and 32 on Feb. 3, 1993.
- This is the 36th career double digit scoring game for Fobbs and the 16th in which has scored at least 20 or more points.
- Fobbs is the seventh CAA student-athlete to score 30 or more points in a game this season.
How It Happened
- Sanders grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to give Towson the lead for good, 67-65 with 2:13 remaining.
- Fobbs, who tallied 22 points after intermission, scored Towson's final nine points of the contest.
- Akin gave UMBC its final lead, 63-62, with 3:36 remaining.
- Juwan Gray was solid in 24 minutes scoring five points and collecting five rebounds.
- Gray's 3-pointer with 3:09 remaining gave the Tigers a 65-63 lead before the Retrievers tied the game at 65 setting the stage for the frenzied finish.
- Towson trailed, 51-46, with 10 minutes remaining before scoring nine consecutive points to surge into a 55-51 lead following a Tunstall put-back dunk and a nifty up and under layup from Jakigh Dottin with 7:49 remaining.
- The Tigers shot 51.9 percent in the second half (14-for-27) and outrebounded UMBC, 21-10 during the same span.
- After falling into its biggest deficit of the contest, 33-25, Towson scored 11 straight points bridging the first and second halves to open a 36-33 lead two minutes into the second half.
- Fobbs' opening salvo of two straight 3-pointers on his first two shot attempts gave the Tigers a quick 6-0 lead and was a harbinger of things to follow.
Inside the Numbers
- This was the seventh straight game that Sanders finished with at least six rebounds.
- This was the second time in Towson's last three games that Tunstall finished with double digit rebounds.
- Tunstall raised his career blocked shot total to 91.
- Tunstall has blocked a shot in 52.4 percent of the career games he's played in.
- This was Tunstall's 10th career game with double digit rebounds.
- Sanders reached double figures for the 22nd time in his career.
- Dottin and Jason Gibson had three assists each to lead Towson.
- Towson is 3-1 at home this year.
- Towson outscored UMBC, 16-5 in second chance points.
- UMBC grabbed three offensive rebounds and ended the game shooting 52 percent.
- The Tigers tied a season-high by making 10 3-pointers.
- This was the seventh time this season Towson has had a run of at least 10 or more points.
- Dottin beat the first half buzzer with a deep jumper. He has two buzzer beaters this season as he had a halfcourt one against Xavier.
- Overall, Towson has three buzzer beaters this season that have ended halves or games.
- This was Towson's fourth game in 12 days and first home contest in 29 days.
- Towson has won three of its last four games.
- Towson is 24-3 against in-state opponents since the start of the 2012-13 season.
Up Next
- Towson competes in the D.C. Holiday Hoops Festival on Friday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Dec. 21 at the D.C. Events, Sports & Entertainment Arena, site of this year's Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament.
- The Tigers open with Liberty (11-0) on Friday at 5 p.m.
- Liberty is currently ranked second in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll and receiving votes in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.
- Towson will play either Tulane (7-2) or Akron (7-2) on Saturday at either 1 or 3:30 p.m.
