AMHERST – The difference between Towson and the UMass men’s basketball team revealed itself on the game’s first possession.
The Tigers won the jump ball, then Nicolas Timberlake sprinted from the corner down the baseline for a dunk on a back cut the Minutemen prepared all week for. Towson ran its system to perfection. UMass didn’t execute.
“We deny, so getting back cut is part of it,” UMass coach Frank Martin said. “We practice that every day. We usually meet that guy at the rim. If they call a foul, they call a foul, you’re not getting it.”
The Tigers got it more often than not, beating the Minutemen 67-55 on Thursday at the Mullins Center. They shot 43.2 percent from the field and dished 17 assists. Timberlake, a Braintree native, led the way with 27 points in his home state.
“You schedule real teams,” Martin said. “That’s the team you play in the first round of the tournament. You’d like to get your team prepared to play teams like that.”
Towson won 25 games last year and the CAA regular season championship. The Tigers returned 10 players and three starters.
“He’s got a winning DNA on this team,” Martin said. “Winning teams don’t overwhelm you with talent, they punish you for your mistakes.”
UMass (1-1) shot just 34 percent from the field and 21 percent from the 3-point line in its lowest offensive output since Feb. 1, 2020, at Davidson (50). Louisville Transfer Matt Cross and Isaac Kante led the Minutemen with 13 points each.
“Coach felt like we were whiffing some screens, cleaning those up and little detail type stuff,” Kante said. “Towson closed gaps on us so we couldn’t drive much. It’s not an overnight thing where offense is going to be good. This is a new team. We’ll have it together.”
As bad as the offense was, UMass gave itself opportunities to make the second half more of a game. The Minutemen trailed by as many as 19 in the second half but pulled within 10 on a Keon Thompson and-one with 3:48 left. The Tigers (2-0) scored four points in a row to halt the mini-run and give themselves enough breathing room to see the game out.
“The season teaches you to either become a winning team or a losing team. You don’t go through the season and remain the same,” Martin said. “Winning teams take ownership individually and collectively, not just after a loss.”
The Tigers bullied UMass on the boards, grabbing 40 rebounds – 11 offensive – compared to 31 by the Minutemen and scoring 15 second-chance points. Towson blocked five UMass shots and forced big man Wildens Leveque into foul trouble all night. He picked up his fifth with 1 minute, 2 seconds left after playing just 18 minutes.
The Minutemen brought it to a dozen twice. The Mullins Center crowd rose to full voice both times.
The first, Timberlake splashed a 3 with 13 minutes left that silenced them immediately.
UMass pulled within a dozen again five minutes later after Leveque sank a jumper. He picked up his fourth foul shortly after, eliciting the loudest, most connected noise from the crowd: boos.
UMass missed five shots that could have cut the deficit to 10 or single digits before a Jason Gibson free throw pushed the lead to 13 with 4:31 remaining.
The Minutemen didn’t help themselves with easy opportunities. They were 12-of-22 from the free throw and missed 17 layups.
“I couldn’t find a single guy that was engaged with what we were doing,” Martin said. “I’m not Mr. Chipper when guys aren’t prepared to play.”
Towson exercised established a seven-point lead early before Cross started splashing 3s.
The Beverly native poured in all 13 of his points in 13 minutes before halftime and hit two triples. He converted a steal into a layup to give UMass its first lead 17-15 with 11:11 until halftime. His and-one with 9:20 left gave UMass its largest lead at two points.
Towson then ripped off a 12-0 run to grab a 32-22 lead with 5:13 on the clock. The Tigers lead pushed to 14 in the final minute of the frame.
“The difference is they’re a cohesive unit that’s won a league championship together. We’re not there,” Martin said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that just showed up here. They’ve already been through the journey as a unit, and they understand how to win as a unit. They understand what makes them win.”
UMass is in just its second game together and still not all the way together. Cross missed the opener with an injury, and Martin still has a lot to learn about the team.
“We’re not going to get anything out of our team by tricking us that we’re good,” Martin said. “We’ve got to go play good teams, and we’ve got to learn what it takes.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.