TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University men's basketball team welcomed the Hampton Pirates to TU Arena on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers (21-10, 16-2 CAA) defeated the Pirates (16-15, 8-10 CAA) 75-72 to close out the CAA regular season.
Nendah Tarkeled all Tigers with 20 points on 7-of-9 (77.8%) shooting while adding three rebounds. Dylan Williamson had 13 points on 50% shooting while adding five assists. Tyler Tejada finished with 15 points and three rebounds.
Key Stats vs Hampton:
The Tigers shot 52.9% from the field and 47.1% from behind the arc.
Towson had 36 points off the bench while Hampton had six points off the bench.
The Tigers held the Pirates to 36.8% from behind the arc.
How It Happened vs Hampton:
Towson jumped out to a 6-3 lead to start the game, getting a pair of baskets from Rahdir Hicks.
The teams went back-and-forth trading baskets, then the Tigers went on an 14-5 run led by Tyler Tejada's 11 points to lead by six with 6:48 left in the first half
The Pirates responded by scoring 12 of the next 15 points to have a 32-29 edge.
Towson closed out the first half with a 10-4 run capped off by a Caleb Embeya layup to lead 39-36 at the break.
The Tigers opened the second half by extending their lead to five, but Hampton went on a 14-3 run to lead 55-49 with 12:34 remaining.
The teams exchanged a few baskets, before Towson regained the lead by scoring ten of the next 12 points to lead by two with under five minutes.
The teams continued to go back-and-forth trading the lead three times, before Nendah Tarke made a floater to give the Tigers a one-point lead with 59 seconds left.
The Pirates missed the go-ahead jumper, then Dylan Williamson drained a three-pointer with 12 seconds left to lead by four.
Hampton cut the deficit to one after a Noah Farrakhan three-pointer, but Tomiwa Sulaiman sealed a 75-72 victory with a pair of late free throws.
Inside the Numbers vs Hampton:
This is the first time that Towson has finished with a 16-2 record in the CAA.
Dylan Williamson has finished with five or more assists in the last four games.
Today's attendance of 4,705 ranks second all-time at TU Arena.
Next Game: The Tigers will head to Washington, D.C. to play in the CAA Tournament. Towson will play the winner of the 8/9 seed game in the CAA quarterfinals on Sunday, March 9th. The game is scheduled for 12 p.m. The game will be streamed on FloCollege.