TOWSON, Md. - This will be the last time we can mention December 29, 2010. It was when the Tigers defeated La Salle in overtime, 93-90, in Philadelphia, which was their last victory of the 2010-11 season.
Or December 1, 2010 when the Tigers defeated Western Michigan, 75-73, for their last home victory.
Or March 5, 2010, which was the last time the Tigers won a CAA game with a 91-74 victory over UNC Wilmington at the Richmond Coliseum in the CAA Tournament.
After the Tigers edged UNCW, 66-61, on Saturday afternoon at the Towson Center, you can kiss all of those streaks goodbye and the national attention that came with them.
"It feels good," Towson Coach Pat Skerry said. "We're going to have a lot of them here. I'm mostly happy for these guys. They've been in position to do it.
"We showed them the (Muhammad Ali-George Foreman fight from 1974), which featured the "rope-a-dope," Skerry added. "We were on the ropes and took a beating but didn't get knocked down. It says a lot about these guys. There's still a lot of basketball to be played. Hopefully, we can build off of that quickly."
The Tigers have fought hard all season, outrebounding their last four opponents coming into the UNCW game. Unfortunately, they came into the game shooting 36% and in their last five games, had shot just 31.6%.
It's tough to win games when you're averaging 48.8 points per game. So, what did the Tigers differently on Saturday afternoon at the Towson Center? They finished shots and despite turning the ball over 17 times, they had eight fastbreak points compared to zero for the Seahawks. They also had 13 second chance points and 32 points in the paint.
But, the Tigers' biggest key was finishing the game in the second half. On Jan. 11, Towson was tied with William & Mary, 42-42, with 11:09 left in the game. The Tigers were outscored by 16-0 over the next eight minutes and fell, 66-49.
On Dec. 10, the Tigers were up 54-52 against UMBC with 2:32 left, but were outscored by 10-4 the rest of the way to lose, 62-58. The Tigers hurt themselves at the foul line by making just 8 of 25 attempts and were outrebounded, 43-41.
Against UNCW, the Tigers shot 58% from the field in the second half, avoiding some of the long droughts that have plagued them all season.
The Tigers were down 32-29 at the half, but had come back from a seven-point deficit. Despite having some momentum, UNCW took a five-point lead at 37-32 on a jumper from Matt Wilson with 16:19 left.
But, the Tigers started turning up the pressure defensively and took the lead at 14:19 when sophomore Marcus Damas drilled Towson's only three-pointer of the game for a 39-38 lead.
The Tigers never relinquished the lead even though the Seahawks were able to tie the game at 52-52 on a three-pointer from Donte Morales with 6:09 left.
This was a time where the Tigers could have put their heads down but instead, Damas responded with a jumper at the 5:48 mark and then, redshirt sophmoore Erique Gumbs scored on a slam dunk with 3:32 left to go up by 56-52.
There were a few frantic moments at the end after the Tigers took a 60-53 lead with 1:25 left as Tanner Milson hit his only basket of the game on a three-pointer and Trevor Deloach drilled a three-pointer with 45 seconds left for his only basket to cut the lead to 61-59.
After freshman Deon Jones made one of two foul shots, the Tigers left Keith Rendleman alone for an easy basket to cut the lead to 62-61. Jones had the ball stripped by Adam Smith, who missed a jumper but Rendleman was fouled on the rebound with 20 seconds left. He missed both attempts and after a Nwankwo rebound, he pushed the ball up the court to Gumbs, who slammed it home with his right hand.
Down by three points, UNCW had one more chance but Smith's shot was blocked by Nwankwo with less than a second left and the streak was officially over.
After a slow start, Nwankwo finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals for his ninth "double double" of the season.
"I knew he was going to try and take that shot and be the heroic figure," said Nwankwo. "I just made sure I had my hand up."
Gumbs, who scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 29 minutes, has been the only player who had been through all 41 games of the losing streak.
"I've been here for the whole thing," said Gumbs. "I've seen it all. It actually was really emotional. I've been waiting for it for a long time. We came out there and stuck to all our principles and got it."
The winning formula, as Skerry mentioned, was displayed on Saturday afternoon. Towson produced four players in double figures, shot 49% from the floor and a decent 68% from the foul line (21 of 31). The Tigers also took just eight three-point shots, consistently drove to the basket and got the ball inside most of the day to Nwankwo, Gumbs and freshman Jervon Pressley.
Then at the end, the Tigers' defense clamped down when they needed to.
"I am really happy for my guys," said Skerry. "Sometimes it seems like 'coach speak' to talk about how hard your guys are working. They really have been working hard every day.
"Marcus (Damas) is going to be a terrific player," Skerry added. "He had a great night. We guarded, we rebounded and didn't take a lot of threes. That's a winning formula for us. I think the difference in the game is in the second half. Rob was Rob. He just used his talents and abilities and locked down on Rendleman. I thought his defense helped us win the basketball game."
