Trailing 31-16 at the half and in serious foul trouble, the young Bison (3-14) appeared to be all but done until Okoroh began to take over, scoring 10 of his team's 16 points to help cut the deficit to 42-37 with a little over eight minutes in the second half.

The 6-5 junior forward was virtually unstoppable as the Cougars tried several players on him.  Okoroh scored on an array of shots, including a rare three pointer.  The Bison comeback attempt can also be attributed to some rugged defense which limited the College of Charleston (8-7) to only 6 of 18 shooting in the second half.

"Prince took over in the second half and willed us to within reach," said Howard head coach Kevin Nickelberry.  "He got a little tired and we did not make enough shots down the stretch and that was the difference."

The Cougars were able to re-build their lead to 54-39 with a little under four minutes remaining but the scrappy Bison would not go away and they responded again with an 11-2 spurt that was capped off by two Okoroh free throws that got the score to 56-50 with 1:33 still remaining.

"I really like the intensity that we showed and how resilient we were," said Nickelberry of his young team, which has no seniors and nine freshmen.  "Damon Collins, Tyler Stone and Oliver Ellison did a great job on their defensive rotations and that was certainly a factor in the second half."

From there, fatigue and the mounting foul trouble began to set in and College of Charleston was able to put the game away at the free throw line with Adjehi Baru converting five free throws down the stretch to salt away the hard-fought victory for the hosts.

With the absence of leading scorer James "J-Bird" Daniel and James "JT" Miller out with injuries, several players contributed to the cause.  Solomon Mangham, who was averaging almost 12 points in the past five games, finished with five before fouling out.  No player other than Okoroh reached double figures.  Daniel has missed the past five games with a sore toe and Miller has sat out the last three with a sore knee. The duo  average almost 30 points between them.

Willis Hall led the Cougars with 18 points, 14 coming in the first half while Baru (12 points) and Joe Chealey (11 points) combined for 21 of their team' s 29 second half points.

The Bison have a few days off before they resume conference play with a January 13 home games against Savannah State.

"I was really proud of the effort; this was a good game to get us ready for league play," said Nickelberry.  "  Hopefully we will have Daniel and Miller back healthy.  This is certainly something to build on."