Throughout the first half of the 2006-07 season, the Towson men?s basketball team has gotten by on the sharp-shooting of Gary Neal. But Saturday night, the Tigers? senior guard got some help from his frontcourt in a 75-61 win over defending Colonial Athletic Association champions UNC-Wilmington before 1,540 at Towson Center.
For the Tigers (9-10 overall, 3-5 CAA), the win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Seahawks (4-13, 1-7).
“It?s a tremendous win for us. If you look at the series over the years, they?ve had Towson?s number, so it was nice to turn that around,” Tigers coach Pat Kennedy said.
Neal, who entered the game averaging 25.6 points per game, put on a passing clinic, finding players in the paint to the tune of a career-best nine assists.
“All the things are coming together. I think the team is trusting Gary more, and I think Gary is trusting the team more,” Kennedy said.
Neal?s backcourt mate C.C. Williams also set a career-high with 10 assists, and again played hard defensively, leading Kennedy to call him the team?s best defensive guard.
The Tigers had a season-high four players score in double-figures. Forward Dennard Abraham led the way with 20 and Neal chipped in 19. Forwards Jonathan Pease (11) and Tommy Breaux (10) also hit double-digits.
“We really made it a priority ? to go inside early and to keep going inside throughout the game,” Kennedy said. Towson?s starting forwards combined for 31 points.
Breaux brought the crowd to its feet with three huge dunks, including a pair of alley-oop slams.
“We run that play in practice every day and it?s usually open all the time,” Williams said.
Kennedy thought there was another alley-oop opportunity or two in the first half that the Tigers missed.
Heading into the game, interior play was a strength for UNC-W, too. Six-foot-10 center Vladimir Kuljanin was the team?s leading scorer averaging 14.3 points per game. The Tigers held him to 12 points.
“We knew they were going to try to go inside on us because they were a little bigger and stronger than us,” Kennedy said. “I kind of expected that.”
