Williamson and Tejada lead the Tigers against the Dragons, through to the Semifinals
By: D’Mari Dreher-Smith, Sports Editor and Tommy Pelle, Deputy Sports Editor
I mean… what else did you expect?
The Towson Tigers kicked off their CAA title bid with a win against the Drexel Dragons, 82-76. After receiving a bye from the first two days of the tournament and sweeping this year’s CAA Men’s Basketball awards, the Tigers showed up to the nation’s capital dialed in.
“Towson is standing up,” said Head Coach and CAA Coach of the Year, Pat Skerry. “We’ve got a great university. And we want to keep playing, not just for ourselves, but for our university.”
The Tigers, specifically CAA Player of the Year, Tyler Tejada, came out firing. Six unanswered points from the sophomore helped Towson obtain a 7-0 lead with just over three minutes played. With this fast-break early on, the Tigers got sloppy, allowing the Dragons to pick up scoring, but Towson’s early strong defensive push would block any offensive run from Drexel.
The Tigers and Dragons would trade punches, jumper for jumper, three for three.
Towson built some momentum as the half continued. A tip-in from Caleb Embeya gave Towson a 28-22 lead with 4:46 left in the half. A frenzy of scoring from the Tigers in the final four minutes gave the Tigers a nine point lead going into half, 38-29.
The next half was all number four.
Dylan Williamson, All-CAA Second Team honoree, opened for the Tigers, putting up the first points of the second half with a jumper. For the first four minutes of the game, every point scored was Williamson, 50-39.
“I came out a little slow in the first half. I just wanted to get myself going,” said Williamson. “My guys found me, setting screens so I could get good shots. I’ve been doing this a lot this year.”
But the Drexel Dragons responded. Back-to-back three’s from Drexel’s Shane Blakeney would close Towson’s lead to nine, not before Williamson grew the Tiger’s lead to 11 with another jumper.
Towson and Drexel would trade blows with Towson maintaining the lead. A slow defensive push from the Tigers as a whole, made it easy for the Dragons, chipping away at Towson’s lead little by little. The Tigers would attempt to stop the push, but the Dragons would take advantage of every missed rebound, failed tip-in and defensive slight.
Until two three’s and a jumper from the Dragons would put them within one-point, with less than two minutes to go, 77-76.
Following a Towson timeout, a Blakeney defensive rebound off a Towson missed jumper, would hand the ball over to the Dragons. A missed jumper would open the door for a game-changing block from CAA Sixth Man of the Year, Tarke, landing the ball back in Tiger territory.
A Williamson three-pointer would extend the Tiger’s lead to four, not leaving enough time for the Dragons to recoup. Two free throws from Tejada would seal the game, 82-77. Williamson and Tejada led the Tigers in today’s game with a combined 53 points. Williamson took home the CAA player of the game and a career-high 32 points.
“One phrase we try to use a lot. I tell them to trust their work,” said Skerry. “You think it’s a good shot? Let it go.”
The Tigers will continue their CAA title bid tomorrow at 6 p.m. against the Delaware Blue Hens in Washington, D.C.