College Basketball: Towson Loses Record 35th Consecutive Game to Old Dominion

While most of the 7,048 people that watched Old Dominion beat Towson 75-38 may not have realized the significance of the outcome, they witnessed history Saturday night.

Behind poor shooting and 21 turnovers, the Tigers lost their 35th consecutive game which now puts them atop the list of the longest losing streaks in NCAA Division I history.

To find the last game in which Towson won, one would need to go back 374 days to December 29, 2010 when they shocked La Salle in overtime.

The losing streak has featured many competitive contests, including a seven point defeat to Virginia just last Friday, but the Cavaliers were able to pull away toward the end.

However, the last two defeats have been anything but competitive. Against Drexel, the Tigers only made eight baskets and ended up scoring only 27 points.

The Monarchs also held Towson to a low shooting percentage but it was the turnovers that really haunted them. For nearly the entire game, Old Dominion played full court press and with the lack of ball control by the Tigers, it was no surprise that the Monarchs were able to create a lot of forced and unforced errors that resulted in easy points.

In order for Towson to break the humiliating losing streak that they are on, they will need to play smart, conventional basketball. The Tigers have a couple reliable scorers in Robert Nwankwo and Marcus Damas and freshman Kris Walden could be one of the top guards in the CAA a few years from now.

On the winning side is Old Dominion, who moves to 8-8 and 3-1 in conference play. It will likely take a CAA Tournament victory for the Monarchs to make the Big Dance but they might have the talent to do it.

Although there is no go-to guy on the team, Kent Bazemore is by far their most consistent scorer. The senior guard is averaging about 14 points a game and made four of five from behind the arc against Towson.

The Tigers meanwhile have a long, tough road ahead of them and it isn't impossible that they will go winless this season. Right now, the fundamentals are just not there and now that conference play has started, there will be no easy opponents.

Head coach Pat Skerry's job now is to make sure that 35 straight losses doesn't turn into 70 because with the way the Tigers performed Saturday, that is the direction they are headed in.