When Towson University?s men?s basketball team traveled to Reitz Arena last Monday for a non-conference showdown with Loyola, it wasn?t just another rivalry game between two of the Baltimore area?s Division I programs. It was also a showcase of two of the nation?s top scorers, Towson?s Gary Neal and Loyola?s Gerald Brown.
The 6-foot-4 guards currently are both in the top 10 nationally in scoring among NCAA Division I players. Neal, fifth in the country at 25.2 points game, and the Tigers (8-9) got the best of Loyola (9-7) and Brown, who is seventh nationally at 23.4 points per game. But ask either one of them about Monday?s game, and they will say it was much more than a two-man show.
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“It?s Towson University vs. Loyola [College]. It?s not Gerald Brown versus Gary Neal,” said Neal, who led all scorers with 33 points. “I think we played pretty well and we got the win.”
Said Brown, who finished with 26 points: “The fans and everybody else looked at it like that, but to me, it was just another game. Gary is a good friend of mine and he is an extremely good player, but it was just another game. It was not going to be one-on-one between me and Gary Neal.”
The comparison between the two is logical. They are both the same size and were AAU teammates before college, cutting their basketball teeth in Charm City. Neal won a state championship with Aberdeen in 2000 before transferring to Calvert Hall. Brown was on the 2002 Class 3A state championship team at Frederick Douglass as a senior before heading to Hargrave Military Academy for a season.
Neal came to Towson in 2005 from La Salle after being acquitted of rape charges. Brown left Providence after two seasons, transferring to Loyola after the 2004-05 campaign to be closer to home because of an illness in his family.
“I am happy I have him, and I am lucky I have him,” Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos said of Brown. “This was the first big game for Gerald as a media game. There are always those games where people are like, ?Hey, that kid [former Maryland guard Juan] Dixon is pretty good. Oh, hey, Dixon had 36. Now let?s see how he plays against Duke.? [But] it does not happen in that game. I felt like that for Gerald [against Towson]: ?ThatBrown kid is doing all right. Let?s see how he does Brown vs. Gary Neal.?”
Neal has been equally impressive towards his coach and teammates in his first full season with the Tigers.
“I always know I?ve got G-Neal on my team, so when in doubt, I can always kick the ball out to him,” Towson point guard C.C. Williams said.
Going back to the Dec. 20 game against Georgetown, Towson coach Pat Kennedy has been impressed with Neal?s play.
“Gary has played as well as anyone I?ve ever coached,” Kennedy said. “He never complains; he never turns to a ref and says, ?What the heck??”
Kennedy and Patsos have said Neal has the qualities of a professional, a compliment that was also reiterated by George Mason coach Jim Larranaga.
“Gary is such an incredible scorer and has such great range with so many shot fakes,” Larranaga said. “He just looks right at the basket, and it must look as big as the Atlantic Ocean to him. I think he?s a pro. There might be some things that he can do offensively that … a lot of guys [can?t] do.”
