Boxscore

Photo courtesy of Mark Campbell

TOWSON, Md. -- Towson guard Josh Thornton celebrated his Senior Day by scoring a team-high 18 points as the Tigers defeated Delaware, 81-66, in the Colonial Athletic Association rivals’ regular season finale Saturday afternoon at the Towson Center.

Troy Franklin added 14 points while RaShawn Polk chipped in 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Tigers, who defeated the Blue Hens for the fifth straight meeting while improving to 9-20 overall and 6-12 in the conference.

Jawan Carter (at right) scored 26 points, his 12th 20-point game of the season, for Delaware, which fell to 7-23 overall and 3-15 in the conference. Adam Pegg contributed 14 points while Hakim McCullar chipped in 12, as both players reached their season-highs.

The Tigers, who posted their fourth consecutive home victory over the Blue Hens, shot 49.1 percent from the field and connected on 11 of their 23 three-point attempts. Meanwhile Delaware, which lost its sixth straight and its 20th consecutive CAA road game, connected on just 39.7 percent of its field goal attempts including a 2 of 14 performance from behind the arc.

Towson went just 16 of 31 from the foul line but did hold a 41-34 rebounding advantage over Delaware, which played the second half without Jamelle Hagins, who suffered a back injury.

The game began as a battle between Carter and Thornton, as Carter scored the first nine UD points while Thornton scored the opening eight for the Tigers

Two free throws by McCullar cut the Towson lead to 17-15 at the 10:25 mark of the first half, but Towson scored the next seven points to go up nine on a layup by Robert Nwankwo with 7:12 remaining.

Pegg scored inside to stop the run, but a Franklin three-pointer put the Tigers up double figures at 29-19 with 5:26 on the clock. Carter knocked down a pair of free throws for the Blue Hens, but Polk converted a layup and Thornton hit again from downtown to make it a 13-point Tigers lead.

Delaware answered with a jumper by Edwin Santiago and two D.J. Boney free throws to pull within nine, and a pair of foul shots by Carter with four seconds on the clock cut the UD deficit to 40-32 at the half.

However the Blue Hens would go the first four minutes of the second half without a point, and a 6-0 Tigers spurt put Towson up 46-32 following two free throws by Calvin Lee.

Pegg scored inside for Delaware’s first points of the period, but Polk scored on a fast break and Franklin buried a deep three-pointer to make it a 51-34 game with 14:15 remaining.

Towson’s lead would grow to as much as 21 points, but an 8-1 run featuring a pair of buckets by both Carter and Pegg brought Delaware within 67-53 with 7:52 on the clock.

The Blue Hens closed the gap to 74-62 with three minutes to play, but consecutive three-point attempts by Carter were off the mark, and Delaware could never get the deficit under double digits.

“We just couldn’t get stops when we needed to,” said fourth-year Blue Hen head coach
Monte Ross. “They hit some big three-pointers which really hurt us. We just need to get healthy and get some rest, and be ready to go Friday.”