Holden leads MBB over South Alabama 62-60 from Savannah

[mat1992 2,229]

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=435272&_gl=1*2u4adv*_ga*MTQ3MDQwOTE5LjE2NjM0NDU4MTg.*_ga_2ZWVK1X7BJ*MTY2OTQ5NDcyNi4xMS4xLjE2Njk0OTcxNjAuMC4wLjA.

Cam Holden scored 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out eight assists to lead the Tigers over South Alabama 62-60 in the second round of the HOSTILO HOOPS COMMUNITY CLASSIC. Towson played without point guard Jason Gibson (back) and Radhir Hicks (ankle). Redshirt freshman Ryan Conway got his first start and scored five points, dished out one assist and had no turnovers in 23 minutes. 

Towson outrebounded the bigger Jaguars 39-30 and to 7-of-26 (27%) from long range. The Tigers took just 11 3-pointers and made four including two on 2 attempts from Nicolas Timberlake, who was held to just nine points. 

More later...(Yes, the line was 4 and the Jags covered on that three-pointer at the buzzer. The missed Towson FTs late didn't help)

PS comments from TSN after the game

"Really proud of our guys. Really good USA team who played Oklahoma and Alabama well. We did not shoot the ball that great, missed some FTs. Down 2 quarterbacks in Hicks and Gibson. Defense and rebounding. Holden was like Benimon. Just gifted and versatile guys."

"Good night from Nygal Russell. Charlie was a warrior. Really good minutes from Ryan Conway. Good job. His role will grow. The team won 21 games last season. To have a disappointing loss last night and bounce back against what we thought was going to be a hard game says a lot about our guys. Especially being down two players."

On 2nd half

"We had to focus on execution. Injuries are unfortunate. We shouldn't have played Radhir (Hicks) on Tuesday. Still have guys that can play better. Play tough games. Coach K says you just don't beat a team, but you become a team with tough games because you need each other. Our ball movement defines us. We're fighting it. Ball movement was better in the second half."

[mat1992 2,229]

 

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

Good teams bounce back.   Great win. 

[Blounge 520]

Good experience for the new guys, good tournament practice for the CAA tourney. Playing 3 teams in 3 days is not an easy task. Back at it again tomorrow!

Adversity reveals character! 

[TuTigers2012 1,061]

4 minutes ago, Blounge said:

Good experience for the new guys, good tournament practice for the CAA tourney. Playing 3 teams in 3 days is not an easy task. Back at it again tomorrow!

Adversity reveals character! 

Lose game 1 in caa our season is over… Atleast we defended today.  Fairfield got whatever they wanted against us. Open good looks. That can’t happen again

[mat1992 2,229]

Not going to dwell on what I saw in this game because we beat a team that lost to Oklahoma by 4 and Alabama by 10 with great size with no Hicks or Gibson. We found a way but our FT shooting, esp. Cam and Charles is a concern, esp. the fact that they are going to get fouled most of the time. NT also struggled again from the line. Missing a front end late and he did that against Penn late in the game. 

I thought Paar really struggled in the game after playing well the day before. We were up 9 with about 7:30 left. CT had to come out for a breather and not going to blame it all on CP, but he dropped a pass down low, he fouled a Jags player who made the and 1. Just need some consistency from the backup center whether it's Biekeu or Paar. 

Conway didn't score a lot but let the game come to him. Maybe it's going to take a lot of time or not so much, but while the injuries to Hicks and Gibson hurt our chances to win games, it helps get guys like Conway more than just a few minutes in a game. Cam handled the ball for most of the game so Conway played mostly off the ball. Want to see maybe closer to 50-50 when Ryan is in the game. I know PS is worried about turnovers with Conway and that's he's more of a shooting guard, but he will continue to improve with more playing time. I think his defense has already gotten better. He's not an All-CAA defensive performer, but he does have the quickness to keep up with most guards and the strength to get through screens. He's also deceptively fast. We didn't push it much today but I'd like to see Ryan with the ball on transition more not just Cam or Russell, who played well but took a tough shot on a 3-on-2 attempt instead of passing it. Which is something Russell has not done much. He's been a very unselfish player and without his offense (14pts), we're not winning that game today. 

Even though they didn't score, it was also good to see guys like Tyler Coleman and Christian May get more time. I think May is going to be a good player down the line and getting some run early can only help. Just needs time to adjust to the speed of the game and the size of the opponents. The speed should be fine for him because dude is athletic and I'd like to see him and Conway play together and get the ball in transition. He is a little like Timberlake when he was younger, though not as raw. Needs to work on his handle and to get stronger. But he has some swag which is good.