March 6, 2010
RICHMOND, Va. - Senior Gerald Lee tallied a game-high 17 points to lead Old Dominion to an 86-56 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Men's Basketball Championships Saturday afternoon. The 30-point margin of victory is the largest ever for ODU in a CAA Tournament game.
Old Dominion (24-8), the 2009-10 CAA regular season champion, advances to the semifinals for the second consecutive year and for the third time in the last four seasons.
The Monarchs had four players in double-figures and all 11 players scored. Junior Keyon Carter joined Lee in double-digits with 16 points and he grabbed nine rebounds.
Classmate Frank Hassell posted his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Marsharee Neely also scored 11.
Old Dominion's tournament-record 60 rebounds gave them a tournament-record rebound margin of 34. Sophomore Kent Bazemore pulled down nine boards and freshman Nick Wright led the team with five offensive rebounds.
ODU had a 41-0 advantage in bench scoring and a 44-20 edge in points in the paint.
The nation's fifth ranked scoring defense held Towson (10-21) to a 32.2 percent shooting clip. Josh Thornton led the Tigers with a game-high 18 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
Towson took an early lead in the game, going up 7-4 on a Robert Nwankwo slam. The Monarchs immediately responded though, rattling off the next seven points to go up 11-7 at the 14:40 mark.
After a Josh Thornton triple pulled the Tigers to within a point, the Monarchs went on a 6-0 run. ODU continued to pull away in the opening half as eight different players scored, led by eight each from Lee and Hassell.
A 12-1 spurt to close the half sent the Monarchs into the intermission with a 39-21 advantage.
Old Dominion came out of halftime hot as well, making its first seven shots from the field. A Marquel DeLancey driving lay-up would put the Monarchs up 59-31 with 14:43 remaining. ODU would lead by as many as 37 in the second half.
The Monarchs will take on the winner of the George Mason/Virginia Commonwealth game which was set to tip at 2:30 p.m. The first 200 ODU students are admitted free at the Fifth Street entrance of the Richmond Coliseum.
Old Dominion split matchups with both the Patriots and Rams this season.
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