Box Score Washington, DC--James "J-Bird" Daniel poured in a career-high 38 points and Tyler Stone added a career-best 17, but it was not enough to offset the balanced scoring and bench strength of Hampton as the Pirates held off Howard, 81-78 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's game at Burr Gymnasium.

Daniel, a 5-11 freshman guard from Hampton, VA connected on 8 of 16 from the field and 6 of 10 from beyond the arc to pace the Bison (6-21, 4-8 MEAC).  Stone, a 6-7 freshman forward from Toronto, hit on 6 of 10, but the rest of the team combined for 6 of 19 from the field.

The Pirates (15-11, 10-3 MEAC), who won their fourth straight and seventh of the last eight, got a team-high 19 points from senior forward Du'Vaughn Maxwell, 15 from Brian Darden and 10 from Deron Powers and Jervon Pressley.  Hampton also outscored the Bison bench, 21-5.

"When you have one player scoring that many of your points, they are saying: 'Let the other guys beat us.' ", said Howrad Coach Kevin Nickelberry. "We have to have the other guys step up and give that young guy some help.  Prince (Okoroh) had a couple of good looks and Tyler had a couple of good looks.  We just have to get someone else to be aggressive and make plays."

The Bison had problems scoring during a crucial stretch in the second half when they went over 10 minutes without scoring a field goal.  The Pirates were able to take advantage and build a 13-point lead at the 4:47 mark.

But Howard refused to fold and freshman guard James Miller, Daniel and Stone combined to fuel an 18-6 run that cut the margin to 79-78.  But Powers calmly connected on two free throws after being fouled to close out the scoring.  Daniel's three-point attempt at the buzzer went wide.

"We just have to take care of the basketball so we are not in those situations," said Nickelberry. " Most of the turnovers were situations where we had an advantage and we didn't make the right play.  A lot of that is experience and it is usually the difference in games like this."

In addition to the advantage in bench scoring, the Pirates converted on 20 of 23 from the free throw line in the second half while the Bison missed 11 of 26 after intermission.