Men’s Basketball snaps eight game losing streak before entering third season pause due to COVID-19

By: Cory Kefauver, Contributing Writer

Towson University’s (TU) Men’s Basketball team split the series in their two games versus Northeastern University (NEU) losing 76-67 on Feb. 13 and winning 68-57 on Feb. 14 at SECU Arena in Towson.

The Tigers (4-13) snapped an eight-game losing streak on the 14th overcoming a NEU (9-7) team that dominated the second half the day before.

The Tigers were led by redshirt senior guard Zane Martin and sophomore guard Jason Gibson in game one with 14 points apiece. Sophomore guard Nicholas Timberlake led the Tigers in their victory in game two with 22 points off 7-16 shooting from the field. Sophomore forward Charles Thompson also added a double-double in game two with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

“We had a great week of practice this week and it showed today,” Timberlake said after game two.

TU was without Martin in game two and Gibson left the game early in the second half with a back injury. Martin did not play due to the coaches’ decision. 

“That was my decision with Zane,” Skerry said after game two. “We’ve been struggling and we wanted to play some younger guys.”

TU struggled to defend Huskies sophomore guard Tyson Walker in game one. He went off for 36 points off 7-12 shooting from three-point range. 

“We just couldn’t stop Tyson Walker,” Skerry said after game one. “He’s a Big East or ACC level guard.”

The first half of game one was hotly contested with nine lead changes. The Tigers cut the deficit to one in the final seconds of the first half after a last-second three-pointer from Martin. 

TU took the lead early in the second half after an and-1 from Gibson. NEU took the lead back with 16:16 left in the second and would not give up the lead for the rest of the game. 

“We started slow in the second half, not sure why” Skerry said after game one. “I thought we made a couple of selfish decisions on offense which hurt us in transition.”

The Tigers shot poorly from the free-throw line in game one. TU was 14-25 from the charity stripe and was outscored 37-29 in the first half.

“I like that we got to the foul line, we, obviously, didn’t shoot it great,” Skerry said after game one.

The early first half of game two was a back-and-forth affair but the Tigers took the lead with 8:08 left in the first half. TU did not give up the lead again for the rest of the game having a lead time of 36:24. 

NEU cut the Tiger’s lead to five with 9:50 in the second of game two. TU went on a 9-0 run midway through the second half to seal the win.

The Tigers rebounded the ball extremely well in game two, out-rebounding the Huskies 38-29.

“I feel like my responsibility to the program is to make sure that we have guys that are absolutely committed to what we’re trying to do to win games,” Skerry said after game two. “I felt like the group today was absolutely committed to doing that.

Due to a player testing positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 16, the team has paused all team activities. TU’s upcoming games against the Drexel Dragons have been postponed.

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