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North Dakota State did everything they could to take Towson's Jerrelle Benimon out of the game. They double-teamed him; they cut off the court and trapped him in small spaces. They even left him outside and dared him to take big shots.
Safe to say that Towson needs some other options outside of their big do-everything forward.
Otherwise there will be a lot of nights like Saturday as they dropped one to the Bison, 90-82.
This is what Four McGlynn was brought in to do. He was supposed to give another consistent scoring option. That hasn't materialized fully yet, as if the year off after his transfer from Vermont served to chill the long-range shooter.
The other forwards are foul prone and haven't figured out how to truly accomplish what they need to do to distract defenders from concentrating on Benimon and leaving the offense one-dimensional.
This is why Towson is vulnerable in the Colonial this season (and look, they still scored 82 points, but gave up 90). They are just too focused on Benimon, who finished the night with 29 points and 12 boards.
And while the Tigers were busy trying to get the ball to one person and have him guide them to victory, the Bison were spreading the wealth and got key contributions from different players throughout the night.
Both Taylor Braun and Marshall Bjorklund had 28 points in the win with each doing it in their own way. Bjorklund worked hard inside to give North Dakota State the lead in the first half after the Bison trailed early. And he continued to work hard inside against the Towson frontcourt, scoring almost at will.
Taylor Braun was most damaging on the break, running and scoring, or working his way to the foul line -- where he struggled a bit -- to help bring this one home.
And the Bison wouldn't have done what they did without Lawrence Alexander's contributions in the second half. He scored 10 points during a 19-8 North Dakota State run to help seal this win for the Bison.
This is the team to beat in the Summit League. NDSU has too many weapons and too many ways to beat you on any given night.
That is a big contrast from Towson, and that is why the Bison are winners Saturday night, and the Tigers are looking at a long road ahead.
