RICHMOND, Va. - Towson's season came to an abrupt halt with an 86-56 loss to top-seeded Old Dominion in Saturday afternoon's quarterfinal of the Colonial Athletic Association Championship Basketball Tournament in the Richmond Coliseum.
After dispatching UNC Wilmington 91-74 in a first round contest, the Tigers were hoping for an upset of the favored Monarchs but ODU's size proved too much for Towson to handle. The loss sends the Tigers home with a final 10-21 record and put a stop to their three-game win streak. The Monarchs advanced to the semifinals with a 24-8 mark.
Old Dominion dominated the boards, out rebounding the Tigers 60-27. The Monarchs collected 24 offensive rebounds. ODU scored 44 points in the paint with Gerald Lee (17), Keyon Carter (16) and Frank Hassell (11) accounting for that production. Hassell led ODU's effort on the boards with 11.
"We played very well in the first round when Old Dominion got a chance to see some of things we've developed in the last couple of weeks," said Tiger head coach Pat Kennedy. "They did a good job of preparing for us. They're a great offensive rebounding team. They just keep coming and coming and coming. They've got excellent depth, size and strength, and they make shots.
"The first 10 minutes of the game we had terrific energy. Then it started to get away from us. We were running out of gas."
The Tigers took the early lead. Josh Thornton, whose game high 18 points put him into Towson's 1,000-point club as its 26th member, hit a trey to give the Tigers their last lead, 7-4. Carter countered a minute later with a three-point basket of his own to tie the score and start a 7-0 run.
Thornton hit another triple to pull the Tigers to within one, 11-10 but that's as close as Towson would get the rest of the way. The Monarchs slowly pulled away, assuming a 41-21 lead at the half. ODU led by as many as 37 (80-43) with 6:39 left in the game.
Robert Nwankwo finished with 13 points and a team high six rebounds for the Tigers. RaShawn Polk and Troy Franklin each chipped in with 10 points.
