TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University men's basketball team held off a late charge from JMU to defeat the Dukes 84-65 on Senior Day, putting the Tigers in a tie for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
 
Towson (22-7, 13-3 CAA) had a 17-point lead and withstood a JMU (15-13, 6-11 CAA) comeback attempt off an 18-4 Dukes run.  The Tigers held JMU to just six points in the final 7:47 of play to earn the win.
 
With the victory, Towson is now tied with UNCW for first place in the league.  Towson has a road game at JMU and a suspended game vs. Delaware left while UNCW has road contests at Drexel and Delaware remaining.
 
Tiger Nation had a strong showing with an attendance of 3,032 for Senior Day where Chris Caliguiran, Justin Patterson, Juwan Gray, Terry Nolan Jr. and Antonio Rizzuto were honored.

Towson also earns its 22nd regular season victory of the year, all against Division I opponents.  This is a program record of 22 regular season victories against DI opponents.
 
Key Stats:

• The Towson defense held JMU to 65 points, more than 11 points below its game average.  Towson also dominated on the boards with a 44-24 rebounding margin.
• Charles Thompson tied a career-high of 17 rebounds and came one point shy of his career-high with 22 for the double-double, going 10-for-12 from the field with a pair of blocks.  Thompson had earned his double-double the first half with 10 points and 12 boards.  Cam Holden also registered a double-double, tallying up 12 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and a pair of steals.
• Terry Nolan Jr. shot 8-for-11 off the bench for 21 points, going 5-for-7 adding four assists.  Nicolas Timberlake was the fourth Tiger in double figure scoring, finishing with 14 points.
• For JMU, Terrence Edwards led in scoring with 17 points, adding four rebounds.  Jalen Hodge and Julien Wooden each scored 10 points off the bench.

How It Happened:

• Both sides started out high-paced, with pressure defense forcing tough shots.  Towson hit the opening three-opener by Nicolas Timberlake, then no one scored again for over two minutes as Towson had a 3-0 lead with 17:36 left in the first.
• Action stayed high-paced with defense still holding early, with a three-pointer by Julien Wooden pulling JMU within two at 7-5.  After an exchange of baskets, Towson's three-point shooting started to hit, with makes from Juwan Gray and Terry Nolan Jr. giving Towson a 16-7 advantage.  JMU broke the run, then another three-pointer by Nolan made it 19-9 Towson with 11:32 to play in the 1^st.
• The teams kept exchanging points as JMU chipped away with drives to the basket, getting to within four on a second chance effort from Tyree Ihenacho.  Towson led 25-21.
• Towson found space in the paint off Charles Thompson's play, leading to a big run.  Sparked by a second chance layup from Timberlake, Towson charged forward with a 10-0 run, capped by Antonio Rizzuto knocking down a three in the corner, to lead 35-21 with 5:27 left in the half.
• JMU got to within 10 later towards halftime, but another run, this one 7-0 fueled by five Nolan points, gave Towson a 17-point advantage.  Two late free throws by Vado Morse made the halftime score 46-31 Tigers.
• The visitors hit a couple of threes in the second half's opening minute to pull within nine.  Towson recovered with a strong dunk by Rizzuto followed by a Timberlake jumper to get the lead to 14.  Terrence Edwards made a layup for JMU, then a couple of Towson putbacks got the Tigers back ahead by 16 at 55-39 with 16:35 to play.
• At 58-41 Towson, JMU's three-point shooting quickly got the Dukes back in the game.  Jalen Hodge and Morse knocked down a combined trio of threes on a 16-2 sprint, putting the score at 60-57 Towson with 7:48 left to play.
• Towson called a timeout and regrouped, and following an exchange, went back to their bread and butter play in the paint.  Thompson and Holden led Towson on a 16-2 run in the next five minutes, keeping up the pressure on JMU, and taking charge the rest of the way.  Towson was up 78-61 with 2:33 to go.
• JMU broke the Towson run, but Towson's lead proved insurmountable in the end.  Justin Patterson hit Towson's final basket to send the Tigers to an 84-65 victory.

Inside the Numbers

• Towson had two players each earn a double-double for the first time since Feb. 21, 2019 at Hofstra.  In that game, Nakye Sanders (16 pts., 11 rbs.) and Dennis Tunstall (11 pts., 10 rbs.) each had a double-double for Towson.
• Tonight's attendance was 3,032, the first 3,000+ crowd for a Towson game at SECU Arena since Feb. 4, 2017, when a crowd of 3,431 saw Towson defeat William & Mary 82-80.
• Cam Holden earned his first double-double since Jan. 17 and his ninth of the season while Charles Thompson notched his fifth double-double of the year.
• Thompson's 17 rebounds were two shy of the team record this year, with Holden having 19 boards vs. Penn on Nov. 23.
• Terry Nolan Jr. earns his second 20+ point game of the season, his previous coming on Nov. 23 vs. Penn with 25.
• 21 assists for Towson ties the most for the Tigers this season, with the team also having 21 at Hofstra on Feb. 3.
• +20 is the second-highest rebounding margin of the year for Towson.  The Tigers had a +22 rebounding margin vs. Coppin State on Dec. 11.
• Towson has broken its own record for largest turnaround in NCAA DI history, improving from four victories in 2020-21 to 22 thus far in 2021-22 for +18.

Next Game:

• Towson and James Madison will play again, this time in Harrisonburg, on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. 

- TowsonTigers.com –