Towson 69, Drexel 66
Jerrelle Benimon had 18 points and 16 rebounds and teammate Marcus Damas added 13 points as visiting Towson beat Drexel 69-66 on Saturday in a Colonial Athletic Association contest.
The game was the third in a row on the road (all wins) for the Tigers, who had not pulled that feat off since 1993. Drexel had won 17 CAA regular-season games in a row, one short of the record set last season by George Mason.
Drexel (5-9, 1-1) was the pre-season favorite in the CAA while Towson (7-8, 2-0) won just one game last season and has not had a winning record in league play since joining the CAA in 2001. Mike Burwell and Jerome Hairston added 12 points for Towson.
Frantz Massenat had 17 points for Drexel and Damion Lee, who played at Calvert Hall near Baltimore, had 14 for the Dragons. Derrick Thomas had 15 points for Drexel.
Massenat missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the closing seconds that would have tied the game.
Towson led 30-18 at halftime and built its lead to 39-20 midway through the second half. A basket by Daryl McCoy of Drexel cut the lead to 39-26 with 12:46 to go, but Towson came back to take a 45-28 edge.
A basket by Massenat cut the lead to 54-44 with 6:12 to go and a 3-pointer by Lee made it 58-52 with 3:33 to play. But Towson took a 61-54 lead with 1:54 to go and Hairston hit two free throws with 1:07 to play to give the Tigers a 66-59 advantage.
Massenat made a basket with 44 seconds left to cut the lead to 66-61, but Burwell of Towson hit a free throw with 39 seconds left to make it 67-61. Drexel's Thomas hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to make it 67-64 but Burwell answered with two free throws with 21 seconds to go to give Towson a 69-64 edge.
Massenat hit two free throws with 14 seconds left to cut the Towson lead to 69-66. But after a turnover by Damas, the Tigers survived the late misses by Massenat.
Towson began CAA play with a win on the road Wednesday at UNC-Wilmington. Drexel was coming off a 77-60 CAA win Tuesday against Georgia State as Massenat had 25 points. The Dragons began the season 2-6 but had won three of five going into the game against Towson.
NOTES: Next up for Towson is its first CAA home game, on Wednesday against William & Mary. The Tribe played its second league game at home Saturday, losing to George Mason... Drexel plays Northeastern on Tuesday.
