Timberlake Scores 23 of 25 in Second Half to Lead Towson to CAA Semifinals
Rob Washburn
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 6, 2022) – Junior guard Nicolas Timberlake scored 23 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to lead top-seeded Towson to a 68-61 victory over #9 Northeastern in the first quarterfinal game of the 2022 CAA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Jersey Mike’s on Sunday afternoon at the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
Towson (25-7) advances the CAA tournament semifinals for the first time since 2017 and will meet either Drexel or Delaware at 6 p.m. on Monday night. The 25 victories match the most for the Tigers in their Division I history. Northeastern finished its season with a 9-22 mark.
Timberlake’s 25-point performance included 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range over the final 20 minutes. Backcourt mate Cam Holden filled the stat sheet with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists and Terry Nolan, Jr. added 11 points off the bench.
Northeastern got a team-high 13 points and eight rebounds from forward Chris Doherty. Nikola Djogo contributed 11 points and eight boards and Jahmyl Telfort also scored 11 for the Huskies.
Towson trailed 28-27 at the break, but Timberlake nailed three treys and added a dunk as part of a 15-4 run to start the second half that put Towson ahead 44-32. The Tigers led 58-47 following another Timberlake three with 5:54 remaining, but Northeastern battled back. The Huskies went on a 10-0 run and closed to within 58-57 on Quinn Emanga’s layup with 2:02 to go.
Towson pushed the margin back to three and ended a nearly five-minute scoring drought on Chase Paar’s layup with 1:30 left and the Tigers made 8-of-11 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the victory.
Towson shot 42% from the floor for the game, including 9-of-21 from three. Northeastern hit 42.9% of its field goal attempts, but was only 2-of-14 from beyond the arc.
Northeastern missed its first eight shots from the floor and trailed 4-0 early, but the Huskies reeled off 12 unanswered points and took a 12-4 lead on a Jason Strong trey with 11:09 left in the first half. The Huskies were still up by nine with under five minutes to go in the period when the Tigers caught fire. Nolan, Jr. and Holden combined to score 10 unanswered points over a 1:40 stretch, and Towson went ahead 25-24 on a Nolan layup with 3:17 remaining. A Djoko three put Northeastern back on top, 28-27, at halftime.