BALTIMORE – The Towson University men's basketball team used a balanced scoring effort and absorbed Morgan State's best shot to claim a hard-earned 76-59 victory in a non-conference contest before a raucous gathering of 3,789 fans at Hill Field House Wednesday night.
In helping to avenge a setback to the Bears last season, senior guard
Brian Fobbs led four Towson players in double figures with 18 points to help the Tigers win their second consecutive contest. Playing for the first time in 10 days,
Allen Betrand microwaved eight of his 17 points during the first five minutes of the second half.
Nakye Sanders was a beast after Morgan State scored 13 straight points to slice the Tigers' 18-point lead to 50-45 with 11:27 remaining. Sanders packaged seven of his 13 points during an 8-2 burst that helped the Tigers quell Morgan State's rally.
Dennis Tunstall notched his third career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Morgan State got 14 points and seven rebounds from senior Stanley Davis, who played for a Chester High School basketball program that has won eight Pennsylvania state championships. Sherwyn Devonish-Prince added 11 points for the Bears.
Records
Towson 4-4
Morgan State 3-7
How It Happened
- With the game tied at 29-29 late in the first half, Fobbs started Towson on its winning path by throwing down a dunk that shook Hill Field House to its core.
- Fobbs' dunk was the start of Towson's 21-3 burst that bridged the first and second halves.
- After Morgan State's Kyson Rawls tied the game for the final time at 32-32 with 2:21 remaining, the Tigers scored 18 straight points.
- The run began innocently with a pair of Juwan Gray foul shots and ended spectacularly with a Betrand 3-pointer that gave Towson a 50-32 bulge with 15:57 remaining.
- During Towson's breathtaking 18-0 run, Morgan State had six turnovers and missed four shots.
- Morgan State used tenacious defense and a Towson scoring drought of over six minutes to get back into the game.
- Trailing 52-47, the Bears had the ball with a chance to get closer, but committed a turnover.
- For the first 13 minutes of the second half, Betrand and Sanders combined to score all of Towson's points.
- In the final 6:59, Tunstall and Fobbs combined to score 16 of Towson's final 18 points.
Inside the Numbers
- Towson held Morgan State to 8-for-22 shooting in the second half (36.4 percent).
- Fobbs, who had a career best six assists, has scored in double figures in every game this season.
- Betrand scored 10 points in the second half, the fourth time this season he has scored double digits in the second half.
- The point and rebounding total was a season-high for Tunstall.
- Tunstall had two blocked shots to raise his career total to 88.
- Tunstall has at least one blocked shot in 52 of the 101 career games he's played in.
- He has finished with at least two blocked shots in three of Towson's last four games.
- Sanders has finished with at least six rebounds in five consecutive games.
- Nicolas Timberlake scored all seven of his points in the first half to help Towson lead 39-32 at intermission.
- Towson won the rebounding battle, 34-24.
- Towson turned 18 Morgan State turnovers into 36 points.
- The game featured six lead changes and four ties.
- This is Towson's largest win over Morgan State since a 95-75 triumph in 2013.
- The Tigers have won three consecutive games at Hill Field House.
Up Next
- Towson visits Vermont on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip. The game can be seen live on ESPN3.
