Drexel tops Towson for 11th straight win

TOWSON, Md. - It is hard to find fault with a player who scores a career-high 25 points, makes all 15 of his free throws, and adds six assists with just one turnover.

But that is exactly what Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint did after guard Frantz Massenat posted those numbers in a 65-57 win Saturday night over last-place Towson before 1,390 fans in a Colonial Athletic Association contest.

"I was on him because he could have done that earlier" in the game, a smiling Flint said after Drexel won its 11th straight game and remained in a tie for first in the CAA. Towson fell to 1-24 and 1-12 in the CAA.

Massenat racked up a lot of his points at the foul line after the game was decided in the closing minutes against a team Drexel beat by 33 points earlier this season.

"He played well. He made all of the big plays when he had to," Flint said of Massenat, who had 18 points in the second half.

"He is terrific. He made the free throws," Towson head coach Pat Skerry said of Massenat, a sophomore who was averaging 12.5 points at game time. "His size [6-foot-4] bothered us a little. He was a terrific get for them out of South Jersey."

Drexel (19-5, 11-2) led by just 48-42 after a layup by Samme Givens with 5:09 to play against Towson, which ended a Division I record 41-game losing streak here on Jan. 28 against UNC-Wilmington. Drexel lost the battle of the boards for the first time in 18 games, 34-30. And the Tigers made 6 of 15 three-pointers, including 6 of 11 by Marcus Damas (26 points).

"They just wanted it more than we did," Massenat said. "They definitely beat us inside on the boards. We are going to correct it."

"They played harder than us," Flint said. "They came with way more intensity."

Derrick Thomas added 12 points for Drexel, Daryl McCoy had nine rebounds, and Dartaye Ruffin had eight points off the bench. The Dragons committed just nine turnovers.

Drexel began Saturday in a four-way tie for first place in the CAA with George Mason, ODU, and VCU with a record of 10-2 in league play. Earlier Saturday, ODU lost at Mason while VCU held off Northeastern on Saturday night.

Drexel freshman guard Damion Lee (5 points) grew up in Owings Mills, Md., just a few miles west of the Towson campus. . . . Towson freshman Will Adams (Imhotep Charter) had four points off the bench in eight minutes.