“Be Easy,” As Tigers Win Farewell Conference Bout Against Delaware, 75-70

By: Tommy Pelle, Deputy Sports Editor and Kylie Jones, Staff Writer

With just three weeks left until the CAA tournament, the Tigers hosted the Delaware Blue Hens on Feb.13 for the first of two matches this weekend. Towson, riding a 10 game winning streak, is aiming to keep the streak alive and beat the Blue Hens for the second time this season. 

The Tigers came out dominant in the paint, with multiple players scoring under the rim on strong drives. In the opening 10 minutes, four Tigers, Tomiwa Sulaiman, Tyler Tejada, Nendah Tarke and Dylan Williamson each had six points. Sulaiman also cleaned up on the glass, contributing five rebounds for the Tigers– one of his stronger displays of the season. 

“He was great, right? He was all over the glass, he was on the rim,” said Head Coach, Pat Skerry. “He’s a big, strong, physical guy. When he asserts himself it really helps us.”

Despite Delaware proving themselves as a successful shooting team throughout the season, Towson would give up plenty of shots from the Blue Hens from beyond the arc, eventually falling to make it a narrow game.  

The Tigers, however, struggled with their shooting from three, shooting 0-6 in the first half, which forced them to play a strong paint game. 

“We got downhill and when we didn’t settle and we really drove the ball we had success,” said Skerry.

Despite the shooting woes, Towson had found a rhythm getting to the basket. A Caleb Embeya layup provided Towson with a 10 point lead with 3:29 to go. However, the lead was short lived, as a 10-0 Blue Hens run would tie the game with 10 seconds left in the half. 

A Messiah Jones layup as the buzzer sounded would give the Tigers a narrow two point lead going into half.

In the second half, Towson would come out sluggish. A two-point lead at the break turned into a six-point deficit with 16:50 on the clock. 

Williamson was able to lift the Tigers’ energy with the first Tiger three-pointer of the game, followed by a pair of free throws by Tarke to give Towson the lead with 11 minutes to go. Tarke would continue to show up for Towson, adding another drive to bring the Tigers lead to three. 

“Basketball is a game of runs. We’re gonna go on a run as we did in the first half, they’re gonna go on a run,” said Tarke. “If you want to be a championship team you need to have adversity and fight through it.”

After battling back and forth, Towson began to open their lead with just under eight minutes to go. A three-pointer from May followed by a Tarke layup would give Towson a five point lead. A celebratory dunk from Tejada slammed the door shut on this game, with Towson coming out on top, 75-70.

This victory marked the final regular season game between Delaware and Towson as conference rivals, as Delaware bids farewell to the CAA for the C-USA. This brings the Tigers to 2-0 over the Blue Hens this season, and sends them back home to Delaware with one more loss under their belt, bringing their conference record to 5-8. 

“We’ve all been here and we’ve all been through the battles so sometimes we’ll step back, breathe, and we’ll be okay. Be easy,” said Tarke. “Be easy is one of my sayings… we can’t splinter, we gotta stay connected, stay together and that’s how you weather the storm.”

Tarke led the team in scoring off of the bench with 22 points and was tied for the team lead in rebounds with Sulaiman with 8 boards. Tejada finished with 16 points after shooting 7-15 from the field.

Towson’s win streak is now at 11 games, the second longest in all of Division I men’s basketball. The win streak is Towson’s longest since entering into Division I. The Tigers are now 17-9 with a 12-1 conference start, the best in program history. 

Their next game is against Monmouth at TU Arena on Saturday Feb. 15, with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m.