May, Tarke lead MBB to second-half rally over Northeastern

[mat1992]

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=550193

Christian May scored 17 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out five assists to lead Towson over Northeastern 80-73 on Thursday night before 1,020 at TU Arena. Nendah Tarke came off the bench to scored 17 points and grab seven boards.

Towson had 17 assists and just eight turnovers, while shooting 11-of-24 from beyond the arc (45.8%). They also shot 13 of 17 from the line (76.5%) and outrebounded the Huskies 40-34, after being down by six boards at the half. The Tigers struggled in the first half, shooting just 38% from the field and allowed NE to shoot 50% from the field and 6-of-14 (43%) from beyond the arc. The Huskies finished at 11 of 25 from three-point range (44%).

 

[mat1992]

 

[mat1992]

 

[Bay Area Tiger]

After we win Saturday and we will beat Drexel..   next Towson Report I want PS & Spiro closing out their show with McFadden & Whitehead 🎶

6-12 tonight.  Road foul shots NE 🫣

[mat1992]

So this was not the typical PS script save for the second half rebounding. Strong defense in the paint? Not really. Strong perimeter defense? Nope (NE shot 11 of 25). Strong rebounding in the first half? Nope (-6). Bad three-point shooting? Nope they made 11 of 24. Bad free throw shooting? Nope they shot 13 of 17. Single digits assists? Nope they had 17. 

I have to say that CMay played one of the best all-around games he's ever played. I know he's had games in the high 20s and put up 23 against Charleston on the road last season. But with Tejada struggling with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting (3-5 3pt), with just one rebound and three turnovers in 27 minutes and DWill going 1 of 6 from 3pt, they needed May and yes, Nendah freakin' Tarke to win this game with 17 points and 7 boards. 

They started the game with Hicks at the point over Dylan. Wasn't a huge fan of that and Hick was 0-3 for a bad turnover in nine minutes and didn't play in the second half until the final minute when he came in for defense. It was bizarre but I think PS explains it in the press conference that he's just trying things. I get the Tarke coming off the bench and he responded tonight with a very good game. He also got to the line (5-6) and as he explained it, it was more about whether refs will give him the whistle. I think his biggest problem on those drives is that he tries to jerk his head back and it appears he's trying to draw the foul. They are usually not calling it. BUt had a great steal tonight with the dunk. If only he'd give the ball up a little more on his drives and not force bad shots.

Whether you like Embeya's soft finishes (never dunks), at least he was productive tonight with nine points, five rebounds and two blocks despite smoking a layup early in the second half.

Lowery started 0-for-4 and missed too many bunnies and had a shot or two blocked. Then he turned it up a notch with a dunk to get the team going and even made both FTs. Added 5 rebounds and a block.

It was a horrific performance in the first half and didn't look good for most of the second until their bigs got in foul trouble and we took advantage. Yes, it helped that their best player and second-leading scorer Masai Troutman was out, but boo efing hoo. It's nice to be lucky for once considering the Canada trip was played minus Tejada and May.

I thought the biggest difference in the second half was that we played much harder. We lost almost every loose ball and 50-50 ball in the second half. Didn't think Messiah Jones (4pts, 1 reb) played that well in 14 minutes and again, it's a major problem. But at 6-5ish and 235, even if he's giving up 3-4 inches every night, he needs to grab 4-5 boards at a minimum. Pat doesn't want to start Embeya because he gets in foul trouble but he needs to play 20-25 productive minutes. 

I wonder if Sulaiman can play a little center consider he's similar size and a better athlete.

[TSU88]

Strange game in the sense that we played poorly in the 1st half vs a team missing 2 starters who avg a combined 24 ppg. Then in the second half we scored 50 points (I know, inconceivable) and out scored them by 14. Stranger even more so considering we had 3 starters (Suliman, Jones and Hicks) who combined for a total of 9 points, and Tejada had a “meh” game, to put it charitably. 

Kudos to May, with 17 points, double digit rebounds and 5 assists. Now, can he build off this or revert back to a 6ppg guy? And kudos to of all people, Tarke, who I thought had a helluva game. Embeya and Lowery got off to disastrous starts, but both came on at the end. Generally, when they are on the floor, you’re basically playing 1 or 2 men short on the offensive end. 

Announced attendance 1,050, which is accurate, if you counted each person at the game twice.  Troubling that we let this guy Frankel on NE, who came in avg 2.8 ppg, score 16. 

Bottom line, take the W and move on, but this team has so many limitations and flaws that there’s precious little margin for error. Let’s see what happens Saturday in Philly, vs a Drexel team that has no impressive W’s and lost to Bryant, who we beat. If we’re somehow going to challenge for a top-4 finish in the conference, this upcoming game vs Drexel is the kind we need to win 


 

 

Edited January 10 by TSU88

[mat1992]

2 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

Strange game in the sense that we played poorly in the 1st half vs a team missing 2 starters who avg a combined 24 ppg. Then in the second half we scored 50 points (I know, inconceivable) and out scored them by 14. Stranger even more so considering we had 3 starters (Suliman, Jones and Hicks) who combined for a total of 9 points, and Tejada had a “meh” game, to put it charitably. 

Kudos to May, with 17 points, double digit rebounds and 5 assists. Now, can he build off this or revert back to a 6ppg guy? And kudos to of all people, Tarke, who I thought had a helluva game. Embeya and Lowery got off to disastrous starts, but both came on at the end. Generally, when they are on the floor, you’re basically playing 1 or 2 men short on the offensive end. 

Announced attendance 1,050, which is accurate, if you counted each person at the game twice.  Troubling that we let this guy Frankel on NE, who came in avg 2.8 ppg, score 16. 

Bottom line, take the W and move on, but this team has so many limitations and flaws that there’s precious little margin for error. Let’s what happens Saturday in Philly, vs a Drexel team that has no impressive W’s and lost to Bryant, who we best. If we’re somehow going to challenge for a top-4 finish in the conference, this upcoming game vs Drexel is the kind we need to win 


 

 

Yeah, I wish Frankel was on our team. At least that version. He came in shooting 29% from the field and we made him look like Steph Curry. 

[TSU88]

20 minutes ago, Bay Area Tiger said:

After we win Saturday and we will beat Drexel..   next Towson Report I want PS & Spiro closing out their show with McFadden & Whitehead 🎶

6-12 tonight.  Road foul shots NE 🫣

Ain’t no stopping us now. Um, well I think that might be a bit of hyperbole, but dare to dream 

[mat1992]

We'll take 2-1, but Drexel looms big on Saturday. Are we meh or one of the top teams in the league? We need to put two halves together of solid offense and much better defense. I don't expect to shoot 46% from three-point range against the Dragons, but if May is back to form or at least last year's erratic form, we'll take it. Some games he could give you 23 against Charleston and others single digits. But he can take pressure off Tejada and DWill if he can start making threes consistently again. His drives will never be pretty, but I'd suggest trying to dunk everything with two hands or one. He's the anti-CT of dunkers. Two hands usually off two feet. Try to cock it back and throw it down on somebody. Nick had similar issues with finishing but at least he got to the line some. CMay is still thinking about that semifinal miss when he gets to the line. That last miss on the front end late in the game barely hit the side of the rim.

But I digress. Sure we got a break tonight, but it didn't matter if they had Troutman, Matt Janning or the late Reggie Lewis, we weren't going to beat anybody with the way we played in the first half. It's hard to figure that out because if you play like that against Charleston or UNCW, it's a 20-point blowout. Maybe it was the lineup changes, but I assume (hope so) that Dylan starts against Drexel and Tarke continues to come off the bench. Not sure about Sulaiman starting at the 2 or whatever he was doing. Again, need Mekhi to start.

[TTiger2024]

May plays hard EVERY game, every possession.  He always defends, .. always.   He’s a very good rebounding guard.  Super athletic , and a very good shooter. He’s gonna have a great year.   This was just one of many more to come     CMay!!!!