CHARLESTON, S.C. —Towson men's basketball fought back from a second half deficit to take a lead late, but ultimately fell 71-61 against Wake Forest on Friday night. Freshman Tyler Tejada tied his career high with 17 points leading three in double figures in the loss.

Towson (2-3) outrebounded the Demon Deacons 45-26 collecting 23 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second chance points.

Key Stats:

• Tejada finished 7-16 from the floor with three rebounds.
• Messiah Jones added 12 points on 4-9 shooting with tied with a team-high nine rebounds. Charles Thompson added 11 points and nine rebounds.
• The Tigers scored 36 of their 61 points in the paint and went 13-16 (81 percent) from the foul line.

How It Happened:

• Both teams got out to a fast start over the first five plus minutes. Both teams exchanged turns with lead with the Tigers shooting over 60 percent from the floor.
• Towson would continue their hot start ripping off an 8-0 run to force a Wake Forest timeout. Tyler Tejada would score four straight on the run to give Towson a seven-point lead.
• Both teams would struggle from the floor over the next four minutes until a put back dunk from Mekhi Lowery and driving layup from Tejada ended the Tiger drought.
• Dylan Williamson would drill a three before halftime, but the Demon Deacons would score at the buzzer to take a 35-33 lead into the locker room.
• Tyler Tejada led all scorers with 10 points in the first 20 minutes going 4-8 from the floor. The Tigers outrebounded Wake Forest 21-11 in the first half including nine offensive rebounds.
• The Tigers would struggle from the floor coming out of the break going 0-6 from the floor in the first four minutes.
• Wake Forest would take their largest lead at seven after a 5-0 run to force a Towson timeout. Tyler Tejada would end the drought with a tough driving layup.
• The Tigers would trim the deficit to just three after a Chase Paar layup, but the Demon Deacons would respond with four straight to push the deficit back to seven.
• Towson would continue to battle back. A big and one from Tejada cut the deficit to just one at the under eight timeout.
• Tejada once again would come up big with the game tying bucket to make it 58-58 with less than four to go.
• However, the Demon Deacons would end the game on a 15-3 run over the last 4:47 to defeat the Tigers 71-61 on Friday.

Inside The Numbers:

• Charles Thompson moved into 23^rd on the all-time scoring list passing Mel Land and Brian Fobbs. Thompson also moved into a tie for 10^th place in career games started, now tied with Steffan Bunsavage with 88 starts for the Tigers.
• Tyler Tejada tied his career-high with 17 points. He also had 17 points against Coppin State.

Next Game:

• Towson will play North Texas on Sunday, Nov. 19 in the seventh-place game. Tip-off with the Mean Green is set for 12:30 p.m. on ESPN+.