Foreshadowing at its Finest in Towson's Record Snapping Win

Towson head coach Pat Skerry got a phone call from his wife, Kristen, about an hour before his team's game was going to tip off. She was upset because a large bird had crashed into a window of their house. He told her to call 911 and she did. She called him back to tell him that the bird was a hawk. Coach Skerry had to smirk a little. His team was playing against the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks. Skerry told ESPN, "I said great, we're playing the Seahawks today, maybe its a premonition. I told my assistants that the hawk died at my house and now we have to slay the Seahawks." The phone call turned out to be foreshadowing as Towson held onto win 66-61.

The significance here is that Towson came into the game with a record of 0-22 this season. They were currently riding a Division I men's record losing streak of 41 games. During the 41 games, the Tigers lost by a combined 675 points (16.5 ppg) and in ten different states. They went 395 days between wins.

Skerry was an assistant at Pittsburgh prior to taking over basically a blank slate at Towson. The Tigers only had one returning letter-winner and have six freshman on their team. Skerry knew he had a tough assignment. He said, "We've been in some games, but we've had trouble sustaining things. We lost to a D-II team in the exhibition season in Virginia State that's 2-14. I knew then that we were in for a grind."

Skerry remains optimistic about the future. The school is building a new stadium. Towson is located in a good recruiting area. Skerry believes that he and his staff can turn around the Tigers program. They've got a long ways to go, but a win is a start.

ESPN video of highlights of the win and interview of Coach Skerry: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:7514470