Feb. 16, 2010
NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion shot over 50 percent from the field for the sixth time this season and remained undefeated in those contests, picking up a 78-67 win over Towson Tuesday evening at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
The win improves the Monarchs to 21-7 on the year and 13-3 in Colonial Athletic Association play. ODU, which remains tied with Northeastern atop the conference standings, has now won 22 consecutive homes games, ranking as the third longest home winning streak in Division I.
Four players scored in double figures for Old Dominion, including junior Frank Hassell who scored a team-high 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The Chesapeake, Va. native also grabbed six boards and rejected a game-high three shots.
Senior Gerald Lee and junior Keyon Carter also contributed to ODU's 52-28 advantage in the paint, chipping in 14 and 13 respectively. Sophomore Kent Bazemore was the other Monarch in double-figures, tallying 14 points, while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists.
Towson kept the game close for much of the first half and took its only lead (8-7) four minutes in. ODU went on a 23-13 run from that point to earn a 30-21 advantage at the 4:44 mark.
The Tigers cut the Monarch lead down to 34-31, but a lay-up from Bazemore and a right baseline fade-away at the halftime buzzer from freshman Nick Wright gave ODU a seven-point lead at the intermission.
The late first half buckets sparked a 25-10 Old Dominion run out of the locker room. After the spurt, the Monarchs had their largest lead of the game, 63-46, with less than nine minutes remaining.
Lee and Carter combined for 16 second half points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field as ODU clinched its 13th straight win over Towson. Old Dominion shot 68 percent in the second half and 51.6 percent for the game.
The Monarchs are now 6-0 this season when hitting the 50 percent mark from the field.
Old Dominion continued its domination of the boards, out-rebounding the Tigers 39-28. On the year the Monarchs hold a plus 8.4 rebounds per game advantage, which ranks fifth nationally.
Towson (7-19, 4-12) also had four players in double-figures, led by RaShawn Polk's game-high 16. Isaiah Philmore, Robert Nwankwo and Josh Brown all chipped in 11.
Old Dominion will next face No. 24 Northern Iowa in its ESPN Bracketbuster game on Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
-ODU-