TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University men's basketball team delivered a punishing payback in the form of a 92-77 victory over Drexel in a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) contest at SECU Arena Saturday afternoon.
Playing before its largest home crowd of the season,
Tobias Howard Jr. erupted for a career best 26 points on 7-of-11 shooting and
Nakye Sanders notched his second double-double of the season with a career best 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers opened a 27-point halftime bulge to avenge an earlier defeat to Dragons.
It was a special afternoon for the Towson program as it played its annual Autism Awareness game.
Quotable
Pat Skerry on Towson's performance
"A really good win for us and we really needed it. Our guys were really good. For 30 minutes, I thought we were outstanding. I am proud of our guys and they did a great job on both ends of the floor today. We're playing better as a team. Our defense has been so good and we've had close games. We've been up and down on offense, but you see if we guard and we had a night like we did against Elon when we start making some shots and then we become the type of team that can play with a lot of teams."
Sanders on the mindset of playing with a 27-point halftime lead and the significance of the game.
"It was good to have that type of lead, but you have to lock in and tell yourself mentally that it's still 0-0 and you have to go out there and play the same way to keep building that lead. It was big for me knowing (Skerry's son) has autism. I saw how pumped he was before the game so that gave me some extra energy and an extra push."
How It Happened
- Brian Fobbs contributed 25 points, including a pair of dunks.
- Howard Jr and Fobbs combined to make eight of Towson's season-high tying 10 3-pointers.
- Both of Sanders' double doubles were against Drexel.
- In addition to grabbing five rebounds each, Solomon Uyaelumno and Dennis Tunstall also made 3-pointers during an electric first half surge that gave the Tigers control.
- Trailing 6-4, the Tigers scored 12 consecutive points.
- Towson held Drexel to 13 points for the remaining 17 minutes of the first half.
- The Tigers used a 14-0 run during a three-minute blitz highlighted by back-to-back-back 3-pointers from Howard, Fobbs and Howard to open a 34-10 advantage.
- Towson led 46-19 at intermission.
- Chris Caligarian recorded his first career blocked shot.
- Alihan Demir led four Dragons in double figures with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
- Camren Wynter added 13 points and eight assists.
- Troy Harper and Trevor John added 12 points each for the Dragons, who shot 58.6 percent in the second half.
First Half Facts
- Towson's 27-point halftime lead was its largest since it held a 41-17 intermission advantage over Loyola on Dec. 7, 2016.
- That was also the last time, Towson held a team below 20 points in the first half.
- The 46 points tied a season-high for points in the first half (Wesley and UNCW).
- This was the second time in the last four meetings in SECU Arena, Towson held Drexel below 20 points in the first half.
- Towson had a 33-12 halftime lead on Jan. 16, 2016.
Inside the Numbers
- This was Fobbs' third straight game scoring 20 or more points and the fifth time in the last six games, he's accomplished that.
- Fobbs averaged 27.6 points during Towson's three-game homestand.
- Both teams combined to shoot 49 free throws in the second half.
- Towson made its first 17 foul shots before finishing 26-for-31 (83.9 percent).
- This was Howard's third game this season scoring at least 20 points.
- Howard had 23 points against Loyola and 21 against Elon.
- Howard and Sanders combined to go 17-of-20 from the foul line.
- Howard had a career best three steals.
- Allen Betrand made his first career start.
- This was the 12th time this season and 17th in his career that Sanders has scored double digits.
- Towson held Drexel to 28 percent (7-of-25) shooting in the first half.
- The Tigers got 34 points from their bench. It was the fourth time this season, Towson's bench combined to score at least 30 points.
- Towson is 4-0 when scoring at least 80 points.
- Towson led by double digits for the final 30 minutes after Uyaleunmo's tip-in gave Towson a 18-8 lead with 10:24 remaining.
Up Next
- Towson begins its final regular season road trip when it visits league-leading Hofstra on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.
