HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Being in the shadow of New York City where rap music originally started, maybe people will appreciate this quick synopsis of Towson's 76-65 triumph over first-place Hofstra in a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) men's basketball contest at the David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex Thursday night.
In terminating Hofstra's eight-game winning streak, the Tigers rebounded and rebounded until the break of dawn.
Towson cleaned the glass better than Windex in outrebounding Hofstra by an unfathomable margin of 49-26. The Tigers finished with an astounding 24 offensive rebounds.
Slogans for the Towson rebounding company are now being accepted: All clear. No smear. Give Towson time and it'll make the glass shine. We're a glass act.
With sparking results, Towson dominated several areas to break a five-game skid to Hofstra and earn a split of the season series. This was Towson's first win over Hofstra since a 69-65 decision on Feb. 9, 2017.
More importantly, with one game remaining, Towson is third in the CAA with an overall mark of 18-12 and conference record of 11-6.
Towson can finish no worse than fourth and therefore wear its white uniforms as the higher-seeded squad when it opens the 2020 CAA Tournament on Sunday, March 8 at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.
A win on Sunday over Northeastern or a College of Charleston loss against Drexel Saturday clinches the No. 3 seed for Towson in the CAA tournament. Charleston holds the tiebreaker over Towson while the Tigers have the tiebreak over Delaware if both teams end up 11-7 overall.
The Tigers outscored Hofstra, 42-20 in the paint. Towson also enjoyed a 26-10 margin in second chance points. For good measure, Towson's bench scored 24 points. Hofstra, which got scoring from four players, got zero points from its reserves in 11 combined minutes.
Towson had six players finish with at least six rebounds. It seemed like everybody but Doc The Tiger collected a rebound. Defensively, Towson limited Hofstra to 39.3 percent shooting.
Jakigh Dottin led the way on the boards with a career best eight caroms.
Nakye Sanders,
Brian Fobbs and
Charles Thompson had seven rebounds each.
Dennis Tunstall and
Nicolas Timberlake corralled six rebounds each.
Aside from the first four minutes when Hofstra sprinted to a 12-4 edge, this was the hoops version of a perfect game for the Tigers.
Playing with trancelike concentration and competitive combustion, the galvanized Tigers regrouped after Towson head coach
Pat Skerry called a timeout 2:42 into the game. They displayed grit, tenacity and teamwork to take control and pull the plug on the large and loud crowd that came to witness a Hofstra regular season championship celebration.
Quotable
Skerry on Towson's performance
"We guarded well and what a man-sized effort on the boards tonight. Our bench was great tonight.
Jakigh Dottin was unbelievable, Timberlake and Charles gave us a great lift. This was a big team effort. I am really proud of our guys. I want to give (associate head coach)
Kevin Clark credit and our whole staff. They had a great game plan and had our guys ready to play."
Fobbs on Towson's effort and the victory.
"Our will to win was so high tonight. I am so proud of my guys for hanging in there and playing together as one. Tonight, we were getting rebounds, playing defense and attacking on offense. The coaches had a great scout on Hofstra and all we had to do was go out there and play. At the start, we had a few defensive mistakes but we turned it around and played like we knew we were capable of."
How It Happened
- Fobbs scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the first half.
- Allen Betrand scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half.
- Each one sank critical 3-pointers to quell a potential Hofstra uprising at key moments of the second half.
- When Hofstra closed to within 60-55 with eight minutes remaining, Fobbs swished a 3-pointer and Thompson put home a missed shot.
- Timberake scored eight of his 12 points during Towson's 14-4 burst to finish the first half and help it to 43-35 halftime lead.
- He sank a corner 3-pointer off of a nice pass from Gibson to give Towson the lead for good, 32-31, with 4:55 remaining in the second half, starting a 10-0 run that gave the Tigers control.
- Sanders added 10 points.
- Gibson and Dottin had five assists each as Towson tied a season best with 18 helpers.
- Tareq Colburn (21 points) and Issac Kante (20) led Hofstra in scoring.
- After burning the Tigers for 35 points in December, Desure Buie was held to six harmless points by Fobbs' tough and dogged defense.
- Eli Pemberton needed 17 shots to score 18 points.
Inside the Numbers
- Towson improved to 6-2 in CAA road games this season.
- Towson has won three straight CAA road games and six of its last seven.
- Since January 3, Towson has the best record in the CAA at 11-3.
- The six road CAA wins are the most in a single season since the 2013-14 season.
- This was the 53rd career game that Fobbs scored in double figures.
- This was the seventh time this season and the 19th in his career that Fobbs finished with at least 20 points.
- Fobbs upped his career point total to 1,044 points.
- He moved past Michael Fink and Donald Leslie and into 24th place all-time on the Towson scoring list.
- This was the 33rd career game in which Fobbs made at least two 3-pointers.
- This was the fourth straight game in which Fobbs had at least seven rebounds.
- For Betrand this was the 13th time this season, he's scored double digits in the second half.
- Betrand has scored in double figures 23 times this season and 27 times in his career.
- This was the 15th time this season in which Betrand made at least two 3-pointers in a single game.
- This was the 10th time and the 29th time in his career that Sanders scored in double figures.
- Sanders has grabbed at least six rebounds in 21 games this season.
- This was Timberlake's second straight game in double figures and the sixth time this season.
- Towson has held opponents below 40 percent in four of its last five games.
- The Tigers had a 10-0 run late in the first half.
- It was the 21st game this season the Tigers scored at least nine consecutive points.
- This was the 13th time this season that Towson finished with at least 40 rebounds.
- Towson improved to 12-0 when it has more assists than its opponents.
- The 18 assists tied a season high and it was the most against a Division I opponent.
- Averaging 1.267 points per possession, the Tigers got points on 35 of their 60 possessions.
- This was Towson's 13th victory by double digits this season.
Up Next
- Towson concludes its regular season on Sunday at Northeastern.
- The game will be nationally televised by CBS Sports Network and will start at 4 p.m.
