Drexel outlasts Towson in rough shooting night for both

Bricks ‘R’ Us was the theme much of the night in Drexel’s 65-61 win over Towson in the CAA opener for both teams Monday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. The teams started off a combined 6-for-30 — both 3-for-15 — before finally settling in.

Thanks to all those missed shots, the game was tight throughout. Down 61-60 with the clock winding down, Drexel’s Tre Brown was fouled driving to the hoop with 8.5 seconds left. After Towson called timeout trying to ice him, Brown calmly swished both free throws before Terry Nolan’s driving layup to win it spilled out at the other end. Three technical free throws by Lamar Oden were tacked on the final nine-tenths of a second.

Back in action for the first time in 20 days — in part due to cancellations of games against Temple and La Salle — the 6-5 Dragons showed expected rust, missing eight of their first nine shots. With the 9-5 Tigers just as bad, fittingly, it was 29-29 at the half, even though Drexel’s top two scorers, James Butler and Camren Wynter, had managed just a single basket between them.

“Like anything, it’s hard after 20 days [without a game],” Brown said. “I figured the way we go in practice, we were bound for success. Our practices are harder than our games.”

Drexel’s second-leading scorer, Wynter, averaging 14 points a game, failed to score until the early moments of the second half. The 6-foot-2 senior, the CAA preseason player of the year, missed his first five shots. He finally got on the board after coming up with a steal and soloing to start the second half, then adding another hoop moments later, eventually finishing with 13 points while handing out seven assists.

» READ MORE: Lamar Oden Jr. ‘puts in the time,’ and it’s paying off for Drexel

However, leading scorer Butler, averaging 14.5, was a non-factor, scoring just two points in 24 minutes. Mate Okros picked up the slack for Drexel, scoring 15 points.

After Drexel’s Coltrane Washington drained a three-pointer on the first possession, nothing went down beyond the arc for the Dragons until late in the first half. That’s when Okros knocked down a pair of threes in a short span, to go with treys by Malik Martin, Brown and Xavier Bell.

“I thought we were a little slow to start, missed a lot of shots,” Wynter said. “Just making winning plays. Obviously, we were down some men, so just fight as hard as we could and did the job adjusting.”

The three-point lid was on most of the night for Towson, which managed to stay in the game despite missing its first 13 threes, before Nolan finally broke the three-point ice with 8:56 left. The Tigers then made two more treys, with Nolan giving them a 61-58 lead with 1:44 left.

That’s when Melik Martin’s driving layup, followed by Brown’s clutch free throws, rallied Drexel for the win, as Towson missed its last three shots.