The Bison (2-8) got off to a slow start and could not find any rhythm on offense as the Eagles (3-4) made sure that Howard's two top scorers would not get off early.  PrinceOkoroh, who came into the game off a 40-point performance in the overtime loss to William and Mary, failed to get a field goal and was held to one free throw.

James Daniel, the Bison's leading scorer, did manage to score nine of his points in the first stanza, but when he was not able to get good looks, Howard struggled as it managed only four field goals in the first 20 minutes, shot a season-low 19 percent and trailed, 36-13 at the half.

American was able to get its inside-outside game going with Tony Wroblicky tallying 15 of his game-high 23 points in the paint area and John Schoof contributing 11 points, nine of which came on three pointers.  The two combined to shoot 10 of 11 from the field.

The Bison attempted to get back into the game in the second half, but too many missed shots and untimely turnoversthwarted any attempts as the Eagles continued to shoot at a high percentage and keep the score at a comfortable lead.

"It came down to them accomplishing what they wanted to do and us not being able to," explained Howard head coach Kevin Nickelberry.  "They wanted to get the ball to Number 23 (Tony Wroblicky and Number 22 (John Schoof) and they were successful with that.  We wanted to move the ball from side to side, but somehow we never got to that.  I thought that we took some selfish shots."

Boyd, a 6-10 freshman center from Accokeek, MD, scored all of his career-high points in the second half on a variety of strong moves to the basket.  He was four of seven from the floor and seven of eight from the free throw line while grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds to post his first ever double double.

"We made some adjustments in the second half and were able to do a better job especially in getting the ball to Marcel," said Nickelberry. " I was committed to getting him more involved in the second half because we are going to need this type of production from him as we move forward."

Okoroh was able to get loose in the second half and score nine of his 10 points while Daniel tallied six of his points after intermission.  He came into the game averaging 22 points.

"I'm not going to make excuses, but I realize that with a young team like this, you are going to have nights like this," he added.  "We have to learn that when teams load up on Daniel and Prince, we have to be able to have someone else step up.  Hopefully, we will learn from this and not have more nights like this."

Jalen Rhea came off the AU bench to score all of his 14 points in the second half.

The Bison will travel to Baltimore, MD to take on Morgan State University in its MEAC opener on Saturday at 4 pm while the Eagles host Brown on Saturday at 2 pm.