Any hope of the Towson men's basketball team matching the 1976-77 squad's 25-1 start seems a very remote possibility. But the program's second-best start of 8-1 in 1968-69 is firmly within reach.
The Tigers took another step toward matching that mark with an 84-76 win against visiting Coppin State Wednesday night before an announced 2,154 at SECU Arena.
Towson won its seventh consecutive game to improve to 7-1, which is the school's third-best start. The team can tie the 1968-69 mark with a victory at Georgetown on Sunday, but the record is of little consequence to sophomore forward John Davis.
"We're taking it game-by-game," he said. "We're taking every game the same way whether our record was 0-7 or 7-1. So, we prepare the same way."
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound forward came off the bench to lead all scorers with 23 points, passing his career high of 22 points set in a 79-75 overtime win against Monmouth on Nov. 23.
Davis, whose 14 rebounds were just one shy of his career best established in the team's 97-43 rout of Goucher on Nov. 26, registered his fourth double-double of the season and his third in his past four games.
"I thought I was bigger than a lot of the guards that were going to be guarding us," said Davis, who sank 8 of 11 shots and went 7-for-9 from the free-throw line. "So just kind of going inside early and rebounding. That's kind of what I do the best. Just coming in and giving a spark off the bench and helping my team out."
Davis has started just once this season, and coach Pat Skerry said he prefers having Davis come off the bench.
"Late in the game, guys either build trust or distrust," Skerry said. "John's building up a lot of trust. You know what you're getting."
Davis' outburst made up for a quiet night from junior shooting guard Four McGlynn. The team's leading scorer at 14.7 points per game, the 6-2, 180-pound McGlynn scored nine points on 2 of 8 shooting.
McGlynn did convert all four of his free throws to improve to 43-for-44 (97.7 percent) this season. Freshman forward Mike Morsell posted 12 points and three rebounds.
The team played its second straight game without sophomore forward Walter Foster. The 6-8, 230-pound forward, who had started the first six games, was held out for what Skerry called a failure "to live up to some standards."
But Skerry said Foster is scheduled to return to practice on Thursday.
Foster's absence allowed senior forward Alex Gavrilovic to start for the second consecutive game, and the 6-9, 245-pound Dayton transfer chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds.
"I'm just here to do my job," said Gavrilovic, who scored a career-best 15 points in a 77-66 victory over UMBC on Nov. 29. "We all miss Walter. He's a huge help for us,but every guy is moving forward and if someone gets hurt or is not able to play, someone has to step up and take his place."
Towson appeared to seize control of the game early, leading 14-7 with 13:14 left in the first half. But the Eagles (1-5) used an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game and then after the Tigers responded with a 6-0 spurt, Coppin State went on another 8-0 run to enjoy their largest advantage, 23-20, with 9:11 remaining.
But that would be the last time the Eagles were in front. Towson went on an 8-0 run to regain the lead and then put the game away in the second half with a 16-2 run over 4:47 that gave the Tigers an 57-39 advantage with 13:02 left.
Junior shooting guard Sterling Smith came off the bench to pace Coppin State with team highs in points (16) and rebounds (six). Starting senior point guard Taariq Cephas added 10 points and a game-best four assists.
Eagles coach Michael Grant pointed out the free-throw discrepancy between Towson (34 of 47) and the Eagles (10 of 16).
"I thought it was a little lopsided with them going to the free-throw line 47 times to our 16," he said. "Any time you give a team that many attempts at the free-throw line and you don't get those attempts, it's a little tough to win. But I thought they were physical and they really banged us around the basket."
Notes: Towson is 17-1 at SECU Arena since the facility opened last season. … The Tigers lead the series with Coppin State, 8-5. … The Eagles have played five games on the road and have lost all five.