T.J. Mathis led the Bears with a career-high 22 points, 6 assists and 6 steals on Monday night against Towson. (Carroll Smith/All-Pro Photo)
Boxscore
BALTIMORE, Md. –- Morgan State guard Timothy Mathis scored 13 of his game-high 22 points to lead the Bears to a five-point halftime advantage, but that was not enough.
Dennard Abraham scored 16 points and hauled down nine rebounds to help lead Towson to a 71-66 victory over the Bears on Monday night in the Towson Center in front of 1,372 fans.
Mathis recorded the best game of his young career as he shot 8-for-15 from the floor and knocked down 4-for-8 from beyond the arc, along with a career-high six assists and six steals.
Morgan State (0-6) led by as many as eight points in the first half following a 14-2 run sparked by back-to-back steals and layups by Mathis. However, the Bears saw their lead dwindle to 39-34 at the break and did not seem to muster the same intensity throughout the second half of play.
After shooting a blistering 57.7 percent from the field in the first half, the Bears were held to 40.7 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes.
The Tigers clawed back into the lead with just under 9 minutes remaining in the game when Winstonn Tubbs scored on a layup to help jump-start a 5-0 spurt to give Towson a 59-54 lead with 6:57 remaining. The rest of the game belonged to Towson.
Down the stretch the Bears made one last push, and a three-pointer by freshman James Reed cut the Tiger’s lead to 69-66 with 51 seconds left in the game. Towson’s Crossin ended up converting key free throws in the final seconds to preserve the Tiger’s second consecutive win.
Junior guard Joseph McLean posted his best game of the season. The New Jersey native scored 19 points (8-13 FG) and finished with a season-high six assists. MSU newcomer Andrew Lee led the Bears on the glass by posting seven rebounds with six points and three blocks, while junior center Tim Berkley chipped in nine points and three blocks.
TU’s leading scorer Lawrence Hamm collected a double-double for the Tigers as he finished with 14 points (6-12 FG) and 11 rebounds. Freshman point guard Tim Crossin connected on 9-of-9 free throws and ended the night with a career-high 12 points and led the Tigers with six assists and four steals.
Towson earned a lot of its points from the stripe. The Tigers converted 18-of-23 free throws, while Morgan finished the game 5-for-7 from the charity line. Towson also dominated the Bears on the boards as they held a commanding 39-19 advantage.
“Tonight I was proud of our effort, but I was not proud of our execution,” said head coach Alfred “Butch” Beard. “They (Towson) played much harder than we did, and they played more sound than we did down the stretch and that’s the reason they won the game. But overall, I’m not too disappointed in the effort. We will grow and get better from this.”
