Basketball: Tigers Blow 22-Point Lead in Loss to UNC Wilmington

With the losses piling up for the Towson Tigers, each defeat has been more painful than the last one.

Despite coming into the game with an 0-14 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association, the Tigers were by far the superior team for most of the contest against the University of North Carolina-Wilmington's Seahawks. The team carried a 22-point lead with 14:02 left in the game. But again, finishing was a struggle for Towson.

Chad Tomko scored 31 points to lead UNC Wilmington to a remarkable 95-93 overtime win over the Tigers before 1,525 at the Towson Center.

With the win, UNC Wilmington improves to 6-9 in the CAA and 12-14 overall. Towson has now lost 14 straight games and falls to 4-21 on the season, 0-15 in the CAA.

"Even the fans in the building can feel that when your team doesn't have the experience or know-how to win, these types of things can happen," said Towson head coach Pat Kennedy. "I told the guys when we took the first timeout of the second half, that if we give them any momentum, they'll start to believe that we can play with us. We had a 22-point lead and control of the tempo."

Towson played a clean first half, going up by 15 points with help from sophomore Isaiah Philmore, who scored 15 points in the half. The Tigers scored just about every way possible, including in transition. With 7:28 left in the half, RaShawn Polk stole the ball, fed freshman Dre Conner with a behind-the-back pass, who fed the trailer Philmore for a two-handed dunk.

But UNC Wilmington found some rhythm on offense and started exploiting Towson's man-to-man defense. They would cut into the lead to 12 at 39-27 on a Donte Morales layup with 23 seconds left. But Josh Brown answered with a three-pointer in the corner to give the Tigers a 15-point lead at the half.

That lead would extend to 22 in the second half, but at 14:36, Kennedy had to go to his bench and bring in freshman Erique Gumbs for junior starter Braxton Dupree, who was out with the flu during their loss to Northeastern earlier this week. The Tigers' lead would stay around 20 until the 11:40 mark, when UNCW went on a 12-0 run. Even with Dupree back in the game, the momentum was lost.

With 3:34 left, the Seahawks cut the lead to three, at 72-69 on a layup from Ahmad Grant. The Tigers would hold on to the lead until 1:08, when Wilson rebounded his own miss and put it back in to give UNCW at 77-76 lead. But Philmore cashed in on a short jumper on the other end to give Towson a one-point lead with 37 seconds left.

With a chance to win, UNCW went to Tomko, who was stripped by senior Brian Morris with 25 seconds left.

Morris pushed the ball up court and eventually found its way to Polk, who for some reason, tried to dribble the ball. With 17 seconds left, he dribbled it right off his leg and Shane Reybold stole the ball. Grant received it on the other end and was fouled by Philmore. After making one of two with 12 seconds left, Towson had a chance to win the game.

Kennedy decided to go to senior walk-on Danny Quinn and implement a zone defense. On the next play, Darryl Felder converted a wide-open 3-point shot, to give UNCW an 83-80 lead.

But the Tigers came right back with a Morris three-pointer and a Quinn free throw. After Wilson made one of two free throws on the other end, Morris nailed a three-pointer with 1:49 left to put Towson up by three.

But the Seahawks answered, with Tomko delivering a game-winning 3-pointer.

"We had no answer for Tomko," said Kennedy. "He's been a great player for them. We just talked as a team about the collective number of mistakes we made."

Philmore scored a career-high 33 points for the Tigers, while Morris had his biggest game as a Tiger with 21 points, including knocking down four three-pointers. Brown added 15 points and four assists.

"I feel for these kids so deeply," Kennedy said. "Their resilience has almost amazed me. We just don't know how to finish games and win it. You can feel it as a coach."

The Tigers return to action on Tuesday night when they host James Madison at 7 p.m.