Towson outlasts La Salle 67-60 in Northern Ireland

Dec 1, 2017, 09:19 pm

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Zane Martin scored 20 points, Mike Morsell added 17 and Towson outscored La Salle 9-2 in the last 2 1/2 minutes on Friday for a 67-60 win in the inaugural Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic.

The Tigers (7-1), who have won seven straight, face Manhattan in Saturday's championship game while the Explorers (4-4) meet Holy Cross. This is the first time regular season college games have been played in Europe.

There were 11 ties and 13 lead changes and neither team had a double figure lead.

Pookie Powell, who had 13 points, pulled La Salle into a tie at 58 with a free throw with 3:01 to play. Eddie Keith II answered with a reverse layup for the Tigers and then Brian Starr had a shot-clock beating deep 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 63-58 with 1:13 to play.

B.J. Johnson, who led the Explorers with 24 points and nine rebounds, hit a baseline jumper with 54.3 seconds to play but that was La Salle's only basket in six attempts in the final 2:21. Martin sealed the game with four free throws in the final 22 seconds.

The Sport Changes Life Foundation and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference partnered with the Hall of Fame to put the tournament together.