Critical Stretch for Towson Hoops Starts Beautifully

Towson’s men’s basketball team appears to be rounding into form at just the right time. The Tigers took down College of Charleston 82-78 last Thursday in the middle of a hostile road environment; they followed it up by dismantling the Camels of Campbell 77-43 on Saturday.

I’ll be the first to admit, I did not see the win against Charleston coming. Towson went in as 11-point underdogs, and I was thinking that keeping it within 6-7 would still be a sign of great progress. However, a 20-piece from Christian May, coupled with 18 from Nendah Tarke and 13 from Dylan Williamson propelled them to a major upset. As we know, watching the game wasn’t an option for many, as the vast majority of the public has morals that we stick to and refuse to pay for Flo Sports. However, Towson’s next game was broadcast on Monumental Sports Network, which meant I could watch it, and what I saw was fantastic.

Coming off such a huge win, especially one on the road, it would make a lot of sense for the team to struggle in their next outing as a natural letdown spot. That wasn’t the case though, as Tarke (12) and May (11) were joined by Tyler Tejada (18) as the scoring leaders against the Camels. The three of them alone were nearly enough to match the scoring output of Campbell’s whole team!

So here’s the thing that makes these two wins even better – they came at the start of a crucial stretch of games should the Tigers have any postseason aspirations. Their next few games are: conference-leading Drexel, arch-rival Delaware and a Northeastern team that always gives Towson a ton of problems. Follow those up with a Hofstra team that’s bound to be desperate given their inconsistencies, and a rematch with Delaware and you’re looking at a brutal seven game stretch (including the two they just played).

Towson is currently in a cluster of four teams, sitting at 4-2 in conference play, Charleston, UNCW and NC A&T and the Tigers are all staring up at the 7-0 Dragons of Drexel. Taking a look at the remaining schedules, there’s three options of how this could go for Towson:

1. Win your only matchup against the Dragons, getting you closer in the standings and hoping they can drop one or two others to fall back to the pack. Drexel’s two biggest games to date have been at home with road games at Towson, Charleston and UNCW looming. They’ve beaten the Seahawks once already, but playing in Wilmington is a different beast than taking them on in the friendly confines of Philly.
2. Towson trades off wins and losses, as does everyone else in this jumbled mess and nothing really changes.
3. They lose every important game coming up and fall completely off the map.

I’m glad the boys have four full days in-between their game against Campbell, and Thursday’s showdown. Having the time off can give them time to get through their emotional highs, the inevitable crash that follows and then back to level-headedness all before tipoff. It certainly helps that school is still on winter break, so all they need to focus on is getting right in the gym.

This could be the start of a beautiful run for the Tigers, and I am ready to put my heart out there and risk getting hurt again.