On Dec. 21 in Philadelphia, the Towson men's basketball team was done in by Drexel shooting a sizzling 73 percent from the field in the second half en route to a 78-74 victory.
It was another arena but the same result last night as Drexel's hot shooting proved to be the difference in the Dragons' 70-49 win over the Tigers (10-12, 6-7) at the Towson Center.
The Dragons (13-8, 9-4) have defeated Towson 15 straight times, dating back to January 1991. The Tigers have never beaten Drexel while the two have been members of the America East Conference.
"It was a big win for us on the road," said Drexel coach Steve Seymour, whose team has won nine of its past 10 games. "We can't sit here and say we have their number. We've won quite a few at the buzzer or in overtime. We just have been very fortunate."
Said Towson coach Mike Jaskulski: "If you would have told me before the game that we'd have 10 turnovers and gone to the line 31 times, I would have thought we'd win by 10 points, but it does not work out that way."
For the second straight game, Towson fell way behind at halftime against one of the conference's elite teams. On Thursday, the Tigers trailed conference leader Hofstra 40-24 at intermission before falling, 79-58. Last night, they fell behind by 41-22.
"It's a hard one to figure out because we got a lot of things accomplished that we wanted to in the first half and we were down 19 points," said Jaskulski, who is 0-8 all-time against the Dragons.
Like they did against Hofstra, the Tigers made a spirited run that came up well short. After trailing by as many as 23 in the early stages of the second half, the Tigers cut the Dragons' lead to 14 with 6 1/2 minutes to play after senior Brian Barber's thunderous dunk.
But the big shot never came for the Tigers, who struggled all night from the field, shooting just 35 percent that included 0-for-15 from three-point range.
"We are playing with no confidence at all," said Jaskulski, whose starting backcourt of Brian Allen and Gerald Weatherspoon combined for a 1-for-11 effort.
Said Seymour: "We caught some luck and they couldn't hit a shot, which always helps."
Meanwhile, the Dragons had more than enough offense. Conference leading scorer Stephen Starks (10-19), who scored a career-high 27 points in the first meeting with the Tigers, had 22 points, including several key baskets in the second half that silenced Towson rallies.
Senior forward Mike Kouser added 17 points (15 in the first half) and 11 rebounds for the Dragons, who outrebounded the Tigers, 43-29.
"I thought I was getting good looks at the baskets. Our guards were getting me the ball in good spots," Kouser said.
Towson took its only lead at 2-0 on a drive by junior Shaun Holtz (10 points). Other than that, Towson did little right in the first half.
The Tigers shot just 26 percent from the field, missed all eight of their three-pointers and were just 10-for-19 from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, Drexel could not miss for much of the half, knocking down 55 percent of its shots and five of 11 three-pointers. The Dragons also outrebounded the Tigers, 24-12, in the first half.
"We feel we are one of the better rebounding teams in the league, and we have to keep doing that if we want to win on the road," Kouser said.
DREXEL-Sanders 3-5 0-0 6, Kouser 6-15 2-4 17, Linderman 3-6 1-3 7, Howard 4-6 0-0 10, Starks 10-19 1-2 22, Schmeider 1-1 0-0 2, Battle 0-2 0-0 0, Moore 2-2 0-2 4, Stec 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-57 4-11 70. TOWSON-Barber 4-8 3-4 11, Sutton 5-11 1-3 11, Holtz 4-10 2-7 10, Allen 1-7 4-6 6, Weatherspoon 0-4 0-0 0, Spalevic 0-1 1-2 1, Goodman 1-4 0-1 2, Augustus 0-1 0-0 0, Shin 2-3 4-8 8. Totals 17-49 15-31 49. Halftime-Drexel, 41-22. 3-point goals-Drexel 6-17 (Kouser 3-9, Howard 2-4, Starks 1-4); Towson 0-15 (Sutton 0-3, Holtz 0-4, Allen 0-3, Weatherspoon 0-1, Spalevic 0-1, Goodman 0-3). Rebounds-Drexel 43 (Kouser 11); Towson 29 (Shin 6). Assists-Drexel 20 (Starks 5); Towson 13 (Goodman 5). A-2,029.