When Gary Neal pulled up in front of the Towson University bench, released the ball over a closing defender and watched the ball tickle the nylon net, he validated all the hard work and effort put into rebuilding his career.
With that three-point shot, coming with less than three minutes remaining in the Tigers? 85-63 blowout win over visiting Delaware Wednesday, Neal reached the 2,000-point plateau for his career. He needed 36 points to reach the mark and scored exactly that.
Delaware?s coach, Monte Ross, offered congratulations after the game.
“For a while, it seemed like he had all 2,000 tonight,” Ross said.
Neal has been punishing opposing coaches for 37 games at Towson, which is currently 10-10 overall, 4-5 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Of his 2,000 points, 959 have come at Towson, meaning he?s likely to break 1,000 in the next week. Only one player, Devin Boyd (1988-93), has ever scored 2,000 points in a Towson uniform. Neal?s other 1,041 career points came at La Salle.
Neal was eager to get it over with. Towson coach Pat Kennedy told Neal he had until the two-minute mark to get the record before the star guard would be pulled.
“With that said, on the next play down, I shot it,” Neal said with a guilty smile. “I had my mind made up to get it.”
He was ready to put the milestone behind him and move on.
“I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible,” said Neal, a Calvert Hall graduate and Aberdeen native. “If I could have scored 58 points against Wilmington, I would have taken that, too.”
Delaware forward Herb Courtney said, “We wanted to make it as difficult as possible” for Neal to get open shots. But according to Ross, it didn?t matter if Neal had a defender in his face or not.
“He really stops himself more than anyone else stops him,” Ross said.
Neal called the accomplishment the best of his career to date. But he has some team goals to accomplish for the remainder of the season.
“Talk to me in about a month from now when we?re 18-10 and in the championship game of the CAA tournament,” Neal said. “For now, individually, this is up there.”
NEAL NUMBERS
» Gary Neal hit 6 of 12 three-point attempts Wednesday
» Neal needs 41 points to surpass 1,000 career points since joining Towson in December 2005.
» Towson?s next game is against visiting Hofstra (15-5, 8-1) Saturday at 4 p.m.
