Towson men’s basketball rolls past UMBC, 89-73, behind Christian May’s hot shooting, rebounding domination
Christian May hopes his last two performances are a sign of what’s to come.
May, a sophomore shooting guard for the Towson men’s basketball team, hit a career-high six 3-pointers en route to a game-best 24 points to propel the Tigers to an 89-73 win against host UMBC on Saturday before an announced 2,513 at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Catonsville.
Junior small forward Tomiwa Sulaiman came off the bench to amass a season-high 16 points and five rebounds, redshirt freshman point guard Dylan Williamson chipped in 11 points, eight assists and four steals, and graduate student power forward Charles Thompson compiled 10 points (all in the second half), eight rebounds and two blocks to help the Towson (5-5) pick up its second win in a row.
The Tigers played without usual starting point guard Radhir Hicks, who sat out his fifth straight game because of a concussion, and redshirt junior shooting guard Nendah Tarke, who was cleared by the NCAA on Wednesday to begin playing with the Tigers.
Tarke missed the first 10 games as the NCAA investigated whether he had joined Nicholls State in May after transferring from Coppin State before changing his mind and committing to Towson the next month. Coach Pat Skerry said the plan is for Tarke to make his season debut against Bryant on Saturday.
After scoring a career-best 27 points in Wednesday night’s 81-71 victory against Massachusetts, May has scored 51 points in his past two starts. He scored 19 points in the first half Saturday to propel the Tigers to a 46-38 halftime lead.
May acknowledged that he might have felt some pressure at the beginning of the year to live up to expectations as one of the few returing players with considerable game experience.
“I started off slow this season, not shooting the ball well,” he said. “It’s starting to go in now. So that’s good. I’m just glad we won. We came out and got a good win today after getting a good win on Wednesday.”
May was two 3-pointers shy of the program’s single-game record set first by Gary Neal on Feb. 10, 2007, in a 92-65 rout of Georgia State and tied by Jason Gibson on Dec. 11, 2021, in a 89-75 win at Coppin State. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound sharpshooter said he was unaware he had made more than three.
“It just feels like every shot’s about to go in,” he said of his hot hand. “I wasn’t thinking about it. I was just shooting it. It felt like the rim was like 20 feet big. So it felt great to be able to make it. After the first one goes in, it feels like I’m going to make every one after that.”
In addition to May’s outburst, Sulaiman’s output eclipsed his previous season best of 10 points he scored Nov. 12 in a 66-62 victory over Robert Morris and Dec. 1 in 61-48 setback at South Dakota State.
“Not forcing anything, just taking the shots my teammates got for me,” he said of his approach. “The team had a couple great passes to me in the game. So just being in the right place at the right time and being shot-ready and just trusting in the work I put in.”
Sulaiman scored nine points on 4 of 4 shooting in a first half when Thompson, the team’s third-leading scorer at 8.8 points per game, was shut out and missed the only attempt he took.
“I’m always ready to make an impact regardless of how the game’s going,” Sulaiman said. “I always say to myself, ‘Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.’ Charles, if he’s not scoring the ball like he normally does, that just means I’ve got to step up and do whatever the teams needs.”
Sulaiman and May, who also grabbed four rebounds, contributed to a rebounding effort in which Towson doubled up the Retrievers, 42-21. The Tigers were especially dominant on the offensive glass, turning 16 boards into 20 second-chance points. By comparison, UMBC finished with only three offensive rebounds and didn’t get its first one until sophomore point guard Dion Brown collected a missed shot with 7:54 left in the game.
Towson entered the game ranked 11th in the country in offensive rebounds per game at 15.4, and Skerry said the ability to clean the glass can ignite the offense, which shot a season-high 50% (28 of 56) against the Retrievers and outscored them 46-32 in the paint.
“I came into the year saying, ‘This could be the best rebounding team we’ve ever had,’” he said. “It’s something that’s got to be a staple. I think this is a better block-out group than we’ve had. We’ve got alot of guys that are good at making contact and securing the ball. So that’s exciting.”
UMBC (5-7) got 16 points off the bench from freshman backup point guard Franck Emmou, 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks from graduate student power forward Khydarius Smith, and 12 points, two rebounds and two steals from Brown.
But Retrievers coach Jim Ferry said the Tigers squad he saw Saturday compared favorably with the Pittsburgh teams that Skerry helped build as an assistant under former coach Jamie Dixon.
“They were just so big and physical at every single position, and they got the game played to that style,” Ferry said. “They know who they are, and they played it that way. They were 3-for-13 to start the game, and we were up — except they got every offensive rebound. They really physically threw us around today, and that’s tough.”
Towson vs. Bryant
UBS Arena, Elmont, N.Y.
Saturday, Dec. 16, 2 p.m.
Stream: flosports.tv
UMBC at Saint Peter’s
Tuesday, 7 p.m.