PHILADELPHIA – The Towson University and Saint Joseph's men's basketball programs partnered Saturday to support autism awareness. The teams took part in a pre-game clinic with members of Saint Joseph's University's Kinney Center. Donations from the NCAA-approved exhibition on October 29 at Hagan Arena went to the Kinney Center.

In January 2014, during his third season as Towson men's basketball coach, Pat Skerry wanted to find a way to honor his son Owen. Like 1 in 100 children each year, Owen, now 13, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of two.

Skerry teamed up with then-Marshall head coach Tom Herrion, who also has a son on the autism spectrum, to start autism awareness in college basketball. What started as two guys with an idea has turned into a national event where hundreds of coaches wear the prominent blue puzzle piece pin on the sidelines each season. The duo was honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardians of the Game Service Award.

On the court, the Tigers dropped a 78-76 decision to the Hawks. Cam Holden had game-highs in points (25), rebounds (12) and assists (4). Nicolas Timberlake scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half.

"St. Joe's did a great job with the clinic and the environment and played very hard," Skerry said. "Our defense was pretty good, but we didn't rebound and had some silly fouls. We played hard but there are areas that we need to be better."

Skerry's squad will open the 2022-23 regular season on Monday, Nov. 7 against the University of Albany. The Tigers return its top four scorers from the 2021-22 team that won 25 games and captured the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular season title for the first time in program history. Towson was selected as the unanimous preseason favorite in the preseason poll of the league coaches.

Tickets for the season opener are on sale at www.towsontigers.com/packsecu. The athletics department will unveil the 2022 regular season championship banner during a pregame ceremony. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a complimentary Goh Tigers t-shirt.