As the snow came down Sunday, the Towson men’s basketball team tried to shovel itself out of a four-game losing skid. Unfortunately for the Tigers, William & Mary freshman Connor Kochera scored on a fastbreak with 13.4 seconds left to secure a 75-74 win.
Kochera had a game-high 30 points and added 12 rebounds. He shot 12-for-19 (63.1%) from the field and made five of seven free throws. His midrange jumper continued to be a thorn in Towson’s side, an ability that he developed growing his game in the Chicago area. That’s where William & Mary assistant Mike Howland discovered him, as they both attended Saint Viator in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
“We watched him play over the summer and we thought he had a real veteran presence about him as a kid that we recruited,” William & Mary coach Dane Fischer said. “We thought that he had unbelievable intangibles and the production that he’s showing right now is probably more than we anticipated coming into his freshman year. He just plays like a veteran and he works incredibly hard outside of practice and is a great guy in the film room.”
The end of the game rested within the hands of Kochera and Towson redshirt senior guard Zane Martin, who went back and forth attacking the basket. As Kochera hit a 3-pointer to give William & Mary a 67-64 lead with 4:45 to go, Martin fought back in the closing minutes, recording his 1,000th career point.
The Tribe’s 71-66 lead evaporated with two 3-pointers by Nicolas Timberlake (15 points) and Martin, but Luke Loewe hit a jumper on the right baseline to give William & Mary a 73-72 lead with 2:08 remaining.
Timberlake immediately drove into the chest of a defender for a layup to give Towson a 74-73 lead with 51.2 seconds left. However, after a timeout, the Tigers rushed a shot, which resulted in Kochera scoring an easy fastbreak layup for a 75-74 lead with just 13.4 seconds remaining.
Martin was intentionally fouled twice in the final seconds to slow down the pace. With the clock ticking down, his final 3-point attempt missed, and William & Mary walked away with the 75-74 victory, handing the Tigers their fifth straight loss.
Despite the miss, Towson coach Pat Skerry wanted to make sure that the ball was in the hands of his best player.
“He made a couple of big shots in the last couple of minutes,” Skerry said. “He’s our best one-on-one guy. We honestly ran a flat ball screen play that we have. One thing that probably hurt us a little bit is that they fouled three times when we tried to get the ball in. They still had one to give. I need to see the tape. I don’t know if there was a push or not. It happens. It happened so fast. It’s right if the ball goes in, if not they’ve got to pack it in there and force us to shoot.”
Redshirt sophomore guard Demetrius Mims (10 points, eight rebounds) and sophomore Jason Gibson (nine points) got things started for the Tigers (3-10, 2-6 Colonial Athletic Association) with back-to-back midrange jumpers from the right baseline. Towson’s aggressiveness netted several trips to the free-throw line in the early minutes, but the Tigers only went 1-for-3 before the 16-minute mark.
William & Mary (6-7, 1-2) took an early lead thanks to the hot hand of Kochera, who scored a quick 10 points as the Tribe shot 47% from the field. With just seven minutes left in the half, the Tigers went up 23-20 with junior guard Jakigh Dottin and Martin adding five points a piece.
Towson led 39-32 at the halftime, shooting 16-for-33 (48.5%) from the field. Martin led the Tigers with 10 points, while Kochera had 15 with William & Mary shooting 13-for-31 (41.9%) from the field.
Kochera immediately fired away in the second half, but Timberlake and Charles Thompson (game-high 15 rebounds) helped boost Towson’s lead to 55-47 with 13:13 left. The advantage was cut to four after Loewe (20 points) and Yuri Covington (11 points) each jumped into double figures with less than seven minutes remaining.
TOWSON@CHARLESTON
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Video: FloHoops.com
NJIT 69, UMBC 65: Zach Cooks had 15 points as NJIT narrowly defeated UMBC in men’s basketball on Sunday.
Dylan O’Hearn had 13 points for NJIT (6-7, 5-6 America East Conference). San Antonio Brinson added 12 points and seven rebounds. Kjell de Graaf had three blocks.
Brinson’s jumper put NJIT on top 66-65 with 3:15 to play. But as UMBC missed its last four field goal attempts and the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, the Highlanders only made three of six free throws down the stretch.
UMBC totaled 26 points in the second half, a season low for the team.
R.J. Eytle-Rock had 16 points and six rebounds for the Retrievers (10-4, 6-3). Brandon Horvath added 11 points and 11 rebounds. Darnell Rogers had 11 points.
Mount St. Mary’s 76, Sacred Heart 64: Josh Reaves and Damian Chong Qui scored 22 points apiece as Mount St. Mary’s topped Sacred Heart 76-64 on Sunday.
The 22 points were a career high for Reaves, who shot 5 for 7 from deep. Chong Qui also had seven assists.
Malik Jefferson had 12 points and 13 rebounds for Mount St. Mary’s (6-7, 5-4 Northeast Conference). Mezie Offurum added 10 points.
Mount St. Mary’s scored 45 points in the first half, a season high for the team.
Tyler Thomas had 23 points and six rebounds for the Pioneers (6-6, 6-5). Bryce Johnson added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Sacred Heart defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 61-58, on Saturday.
Navy-Loyola Maryland postponed: Loyola Maryland announced Sunday morning its men’s basketball game against Navy at noon has been postponed because of inclement weather in the Baltimore region.
The two teams will instead play in Baltimore at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Mids beat the Greyhounds, 70-52, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis to improve to 11-2 overall and 8-1 in Patriot League play. Senior combination guard Cam Davis scored 20 points and backup forward Jaylen Walker contributed a career-high 17 points. Loyola fell to 0-5 in the league and overall.