Washington, DC--On a day when leading scorer James "J-Byrd" Daniel scored the fewest points in his career, the Howard University men's basketball turned to James "JT" Miller and James "JC" Carlton to help pull out a 54-47 win over North Carolina A&T in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Burr Gymnasium.
Daniel, who came into the game averaging 16.2 points per game, failed to score in double figures for only the second in his career. The sophomore guard from Hampton, Va. missed all four of his shots in the first half. But Carlton and red-shirt junior reserve center
Oliver Ellison combined for 14 of the Bison's points in a 28-23 halftime advantage.
Carlton connected on 4 of seven from the floor while Ellison was perfect on all three of his shots taken.
The Howard defense forced North Carolina A&T into a 32 percent shooting performance (6 of 32). The Bison (5-4, 1-0 MEAC) also held an advantage on the boards, 18-11.
In the second half, the Aggies caught fire and rallied on the scoring of Bruce Beckford, who tallied 12 of his 19 points. From there, the two teams exchanged baskets to the tune of three ties and three lead changes before Miller took over.
The 6-4 sophomore guard from Clinton, NC connected on 5 of 9 from the field and at one point scored 10 of his team's 16 points to help create some breathing room.
With Miller scoring in a variety ways, Carlton, a 6-8 senior forward from Winterville, NC began to dominate the glass, grabbing several rebounds following NC A&T misses.
"Obviously Daniel didn't put the ball in the basket well tonight, but Miller stepped up for us when it mattered," said Howard Coach
Kevin Nickelberry. "I always tell them that if two of those three play well and play great defense, we have a chance every night. Two of those three played well today. Daniel will respon:, he always does. He had some good looks; he just didn't make them tonight. But Miller was unbelievable. He made some big shots for us when we needed them. When they had went on their little run there, he made a big lay up, a big three, then had a bug dunk and it really helped us get the lead back."
Daniel was able to score 4 points, but his contributions in the assist area helped lead to Miller and Carlton baskets.
"They like to run a match up zone and they put one and a half bodies on him all the time," explained Nickelberry of the stategy on Daniel. "There's always a help guy in the situation where someone else has to make the play. And today our guys made the extra pass when it was necessary. When they were surrounding JByrd, he made the extra pass when it was necessary. And we played together as a team. We played team basketball and I was proud of him."
The Aggies (1-8, 0-1 MEAC) continued their shooting woes and missed 26 of 34 shots in the second stanza. The Bison shot 45 percent from the field and held a decided 34-16 advantage in points in the paint.
Beckford led all scorers with 19 while James Whitaker and Khary Dobby contributed 8 and 7, respectively.
Miller finished with 17 and Carlton with a double double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Bison have little time to celebrate as they take on the preseason favorite, North Carolina Central on Sunday in the Big Apple Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY at 6 pm. The Eagles (5-3, 1-0 MEAC) pose a serious challenge for the young Bison, but Nickelberry is excted for the opportunity.
"We understand we have a chance to be 2-0," he said.. "We have another chance to play in the Barclays Center. We have a chance to play against the defending champs. We have a young team, and we got our first road victory against UMBC in God knows how long. We were able to get our first league victory this year. There are some things we charted in the beginning of the year that we needed to do. We needed to get rid of that losing streak. We wanted to start strong in the MEAC, and we wanted to be able to do all of those things, but so, I'm proud of these guys. We're going to enjoy it tonight, but we have a battle tomorrow."
