Tulane falls to Towson at Boardwalk Battle

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The Tulane men’s basketball team dropped its third straight neutral site game in a 73-55 setback against Towson in the first game of the 2018 Boardwalk Battle Friday evening at Boardwalk Hall.

Freshman Connor Crabtree led Tulane (4-7) with his second straight double-figure scoring game with 13 points to go with a career-high five steals off the bench. Redshirt junior Samir Sehic contributed 10 points and six rebounds.

Brian Fobbs paced Towson’s (4-7) four double-digit scorers with a double-double comprising 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Green Wave shot just 18-for-47 (.383) overall and 6-for-20 (.300) behind the 3-point line, while the Tigers shot a combined 27-for-60 (.450).

Towson owned a 36-20 scoring advantage in the paint and 20-3 on second chances, while Tulane held a 21-19 edge off the bench and a 13-12 margin off turnovers.

Towson opened up a its first 10-point lead of the night, 46-36, on a layup with just under 11 minutes left in the game, but five straight points by Crabtree on a 3-pointer and fast break layup on the Green Wave’s next two possessions cut the deficit to just seven.

That was the closest the Wave would draw for the remainder of the contest, as the Tigers went on a 15-6 scoring run covering the following four minutes to build a 63-47 advantage with less than five minutes to go.

Despite a season-high nine steals by the Green Wave, Towson owned a 46-22 advantage on the glass for the evening.

Tulane scored the first six points of the game, but the lead would change seven times with five ties in the first half. Towson held a 31-29 edge at halftime.

The Green Wave shot 10-for-26 (.385) overall, 3-for-11 (.273) beyond the arc and 6-for-8 (.750) at the free throw line in the first half, while the Tigers made 13 shots at a 43 percent clip and outscored the Wave 10-3 on second chances and 6-0 on the fast break in the opening 20 minutes.

Tulane plays in Saturday’s third place game against Alabama A&M (0-11) at 1:30 p.m. (CT).