Hapless Towson no match for workmanlike Monarchs

TOWSON, Md.

They did their best to ignore the scoreboard. They paid the crowd - or, rather, the lack of one - no mind. They tried to forget that the opponents had not won a game in 13 months.

Old Dominion turned its focus inward Wednesday, in a workmanlike 71-41 win at Towson.

The Monarchs are concerned with improving, and even if a win over Towson is as close to a sure thing as the Colonial Athletic Association offers these days, a tight, sound performance is not.

"If you make the focus them and maybe some of the challenges they're facing right now, you can get yourself distracted," coach Blaine Taylor said.

Towson offers plenty of potential distractions, few of which create much concern on the court. The program has now lost an NCAA-record 38 straight games. Its home crowds of late have numbered in the three digits. Its players compete hard, but its roster is undermanned and overmatched.

For the Monarchs, the danger was in letting things get sloppy, in taking a step back in their development, as they began a stretch of five games in 11 days.

ODU eliminated any chance of that by opening the second half with a 29-5 run, feasting on Towson turnovers and rotating players without any lag in effort or execution.

"We played pretty hard throughout pretty much the whole game," guard Trian Iliadis said. "We got a good lead and we kept it this time.

"It was just a step we needed to take before going on with the rest of the season."

With a sweep of Towson out of the way, ODU improved to 6-1 in the CAA with a trip to VCU looming Saturday. Given what's ahead after that - the Monarchs host Northeastern on Monday and travel to UNC-Wilmington on Wednesday - a chance to spread the minutes around against the Tigers was just what ODU needed.

Eight players logged double-figure minutes. No starter played more than 28.

Nick Wright led ODU (11-8 overall) with 13 points. Iliadis had 12 and Chris Cooper 10. The Monarchs held Towson (0-19, 0-7) to 23 percent shooting in the second half, while hitting 54 percent themselves.

"It was the men against the boys," Towson coach Pat Skerry said. "That's why they're in first place, and we obviously aren't in first place."

ODU pressed Towson enough to take control, but not to the point of piling on. The Monarchs' zone defense was long and active enough to give the Tigers problems without resorting to the press.

Towson committed 18 turnovers and ODU had 13 steals. The Tigers had scoring droughts of more than four and seven minutes in the second half.

A crowd of just 689 turned out, so the Monarchs had to supply their own energy. All in all, ODU couldn't have asked for much more given the circumstances.

"A lot of times, you come out flatter than a duck's instep in these kinds of games," Taylor said. "We had good energy to start, but the energy got ramped up as the kids got comfortable and the kids got engaged."

Ed Miller, 757-446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com