Baltimore Sun

It’s a matter of revenge for streaking Tigers

Towson thumps defending tourney champion Blue Hens

- By Edward Lee

WASHINGTON — For his 2023 debut in the Colonial Athletic Associatio­n Tournament, Pat Skerry broke out a mustard-colored sport coat like those worn by Pro Football Hall of Famers, and his Towson men’s basketball team responded in kind.

The No. 3 seed Tigers scored 21 of the game’s first 23 points to waltz to an 86-60 throttling of No. 6 seed Delaware in a tournament quarterfin­al before an announced 2,089 at the Entertainm­ent & Sports Arena on Sunday night.

Towson shot 59.6% from the floor, had 19 assists on 34 field goals, and crashed the boards for a 41-23 rebounding advantage. The team’s “Big Three” of graduate student shooting guard Nicolas Timberlake, senior power forward Charles Thompson and redshirt senior small forward Cam Holden paved the way. Timberlake, an All-CAA first-team selection, racked up a game-high 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Thompson, a second-team choice and an All-Defensive Team member, compiled 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks, and Holden, another second-team pick, amassed 14 points, five rebounds and six assists. They also got some help from graduate student small forward Sekou Sylla, who chipped in 16 points and three rebounds off the bench.

The victory was Towson’s fourth in its past five games and sets up a semifinal meeting with No. 2 seed College of Charleston (29-3) for Monday at 8:30 p.m. The Cougars cruised to a 74-52 romp over No. 10 seed Stony Brook (10-22) in an earlier quarterfin­al.

“I don’t believe we’re done yet,” Skerry said. “I 100% believe in this group. They were ready, and they set the tone all week, and that’s really why they all came back. They all came back for this, and it’s good to get the first one.”

Towson (21-11) avenged a 69-56 loss to the Blue Hens in last winter’s semifinals. At that time, the co-champion of the CAA’s regular-season title was unceremoni­ously ousted by a Delaware squad that had been the No. 5 seed.

The Tigers improved to 10-20 in the tournament since joining the conference for the 2001-02 season and 5-7 in the quarterfin­al round. Timberlake pointed out that games like the one Sunday night are the reason why he, Holden and Thompson returned for another season.

“Having me and Cam and Charles all come back this year and getting [graduate student shooting guard] Nygal [Russell] and Se and the young guys getting better, we’re definitely not finished,” he said. “Just had that bad taste in our mouth from last year. Towson hates Delaware. So it’s good to beat your rival, especially in the playoffs.”

Meanwhile, the Blue Hens (17-16) became the second reigning tournament champion in as many seasons to fall in the quarterfin­als. Drexel, the 2021 champion, was ousted by Delaware, 66-56, last winter.

The Blue Hens, who had won four consecutiv­e

games before Sunday night’s setback, might have been beset by fatigue. They were forced to go to overtime before edging No. 11 seed Northeaste­rn, 77-74, in the last game of the first round on Saturday night, but coach Martin Ingelsby dismissed the notion.

“We’ve got a competitiv­e group,” he said. “I thought they were going to be ready to go. Obviously, we played a very physical game for 45 minutes against a good basketball team. I just thought we had some possession­s in the first half where we missed shots, and against a team that was scoring the ball, we needed to weather a little bit of that. It wasn’t as much our turnovers, but we needed to score, and we weren’t able to do that. I thought these guys were ready to play.”

Delaware missed its first five shots of the game, going 3:33 without a point until redshirt junior point guard Jameer Nelson Jr. made a tough driving layup over Thompson. But then the offense went dormant for another 4:32.

Towson took advantage, ripping off 14 straight points in a 3:59 stretch. Sylla fueled the run with six points, and Timberlake added five.

The Blue Hens missed their first seven attempts from 3-point range before freshman shooting guard Cavan Reilly drained one from the left corner at the 9:45 mark, and that ignited a 5-0 spurt to make the score 25-10. But the Tigers clapped back with 10 consecutiv­e points for a 37-10 advantage with five minutes left in the first half.

Towson enjoyed a 44-20 lead at halftime, and the numbers at intermissi­on weighed heavily in its favor. The team shot 66.7% (18 of 27), outrebound­ed Delaware 22-10, and held significan­t margins in points in the paint (22-12), bench points (14-3) and secondchan­ce points (7-0).

Delaware did not get closer than 24 points in the second half against the Tigers, who built their largest lead of the game at 58-25 with 16:29 left.

With a seemingly insurmount­able lead, Skerry pulled his “Big Three” in the second half. He took out Holden with 7:42 remaining, Timberlake with 5:37 left and Thompson with 4:49 remaining.

Nelson, who finished the regular season leading the CAA in scoring at 20.5 points per game and steals at 2.5 per game, needed 19 shots to finish with a team-high 16 points and five assists. Senior shooting guard Christian Ray contribute­d 13 points and seven rebounds, but no other Blue Hen scored more than six points.

Nelson Jr. said the offense’s ability to convert shots early proved too difficult to overcome.

“That was just the killer, and sometimes it happens,” he said. “It is what it is. We’ve got to tip our hats to them. They made a lot of timely shots. We just couldn’t keep up.”

 ?? KENNETH K. LAM/BALTIMORE SUN ?? Towson’s Charles Thompson shoots during a Colonial Athletic Associatio­n Tournament semifinal against Delaware at Entertainm­ent & Sports Arena in Washington in 2022. Sunday, Thompson totaled 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks as the No. 3 seed Tigers knocked off the No. 6 seed Blue Hens.
KENNETH K. LAM/BALTIMORE SUN Towson’s Charles Thompson shoots during a Colonial Athletic Associatio­n Tournament semifinal against Delaware at Entertainm­ent & Sports Arena in Washington in 2022. Sunday, Thompson totaled 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks as the No. 3 seed Tigers knocked off the No. 6 seed Blue Hens.

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