May leads MBB over Delaware 67-56

[Blounge 521]

Any footage of CT’s ejection? I missed it what happened?

[mat1992 2,237]

12 minutes ago, Blounge said:

Any footage of CT’s ejection? I missed it what happened?

It was his second technical foul. He just knocked the ball out of Davis' hands, who said something to him. He had another tech in the first half on a tie-up with Drumgoole, when even the announcers said there was nothing there.

[mat1992 2,237]

A little celebration video in locker room 

https://x.com/towson_mbb/status/1751390050288329192?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

37 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

A little celebration video in locker room 

https://x.com/towson_mbb/status/1751390050288329192?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

It is coming together 😉

Patience is truly a virtue and so happy for Paar today. 
TEAM TEAM TEAM 

[Chris Datres 423]

I think everyone learned a little about themselves between the debacle at NE and the trip to Charleston.  Players seem to be settling into their roles much better than the mishmash in the first dozen games.

Had a nice fried chicken dinner tonight in tribute to the win.

[mat1992 2,237]

More highlights 

https://x.com/towson_mbb/status/1751336857734930533?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

[RundaPower 153]

Great win.  Proving that Towson has the best roster in the CAA.

[Tiger93 299]

This was one of those games that felt like it was closer than it should have been throughout the entirety of the contest. It felt like we should have been leading by double-figures for much of the second half, but from the 1:37 mark of the first half at 28-24 all the way until Sulaiman hit his final two free throws at the 15-second mark this game lived in a 4-to-9 point margin window the whole time. As much criticism as I will give for not winning by more, I will give credit for never letting Delaware getting it any closed than four on the road. 

This was another one of those offensive efforts that makes you worried about when this team gets in big games, but it was also an excellent defensive effort on the road. Delaware's previous low for points in a game was 65 against Air Force, and we held them to nine points below that total. This was also the first time all year they did not reach double digit assists with only 8 for the game. It also tied for the third-highest turnover total at 14. Their only two losses at home were by three in OT to Rider and by two against Princeton, so winning by 11 there is a big deal. At least for now until we see what others teams do there. 

Individually, it was another game where guys stepped in and made plays to fill their roles. Christian May was great for the first 2/3rds of the game scoring 23 points in the first 29+ minutes. For the second straight game, he led the team in rebounds (eight boards). He also was a game-high +16 today. May did not score the final 10:35 and Williamson was there to pick up where he left off. Williamson only had three points until the 7:56 mark of the second half. With Towson on nearly a 3-minute scoring drought, he scored the next nine Tigers points between the 7:56 and 4:05 mark (3:51 game time). He had 13 points in the final 7:56 including an awesome stop-on-a-dime playground crossover that looked like it was part of the And-One Mix Tour.

Outside of May and Williamson, the rest of the team shot 8-36. However, there were players that filled roles in another way. Even though Tarke was 2-17 from the field and 0-6 from 3ptFg, he did grab six boards and two steals. The best supporting performance came from Chase Paar who stepped up and played good defense against Davis after Thompson's ejection. Paar finished with four points, five rebounds and two steals, but the boxscore doesn't fully show his contribution. Paar, Tarke and Messiah Jones all had two steals, and tied Towson's high steal total in a D-1 game with the nine they had against Colorado.

Jones is now 13-16 (81%) and is +50 in 71 minutes over the last four games. The Jones-Sulaiman combo has been interesting one. Sulaiman hasn't scored much, but he has grabbed 21 rebounds (6 vs. Delaware) in his last 60 minutes of play. He only had three rebounds against College of Charleston, but had three steals in that game. I know +/- can be a random useless stat, but our top +/- guys in conference have been Tejada (+49 in 22.3 minutes per game), Jones (+45 in 16.6 mpg), May (+43 in 31.8 mpg), Williamson (+32 in 23.5 mpg), Thompson (+32 in 27.6 mpg) and Tarke (+27 in 30.6 mpg). 

Towson averaged 1.00 points per possession in what I believe was a season-high for D-1 of possessions per game in regulation (they had 92 in 2OT against Bryant). They held Delaware to 0.872 points per possession in 65 possessions, which is three below their average. We probably played closer to their pace today, but our defense and both teams shooting percentages (37.3% for Towson and 39.1% for Delaware) had a great deal to do with the lack of offense on both ends. 

It was also good to see Stony Brook take down UNC-W yesterday. I think this win makes me feel like we can be a top 3-4 team in the conference. The Monmouth and Northeastern losses make it tough to think about being a top two team with what our remaining schedule looks like. Although, the Charleston road win is probably one not many others will have.

Charleston has only lost to us at home and UNC-W on the road, while Drexel lost to us on the road. Neither really has what you would call a bad loss. We can't really afford to lose to anyone outside of the top 4-5 teams (Hofstra is probably rounding its way to this list) on the road or at home if we want to really think about being at the top of this conference.

I like the way this team is playing on defense, and it will be interesting to see if we can keep having these quality role player performance on the road. I would say to this point we probably have two of the four best conference wins with the Charleston road win and the Drexel home win. Charleston at Hofstra and UNC-W at home against Charleston are probably the other two. I might be missing the others, but for right now this Delaware win is probably close behind those wins.