WASHINGTON, DC --- James "J-Byrd" Daniel, III scored 24 points and Marcel Boyd turned in the best performance of his career with a double-double to lead the Howard men's basketball team to an easy 98-79 non-conference win over USCAA member Central Penn College Monday evening at Burr Gymnasium. It was the fifth straight win for the streaking Bison (5-2).

Everyone anticipated Daniel's scoring prowess. He was coming off a spectacular 39-point performance in a 79-77 win over William & Mary on Saturday. Yet, it was Boyd who stole the show early. The 6-11 junior center from Accokeek, MD, was virtually unstoppable in the first 20 minutes, establishing his presence in the post, tallying 22 of his points while grabbing 11 rebounds. The undersized Knights (8-4) were no match for Boyd, who scored on an array of power moves and drop steps while making good on 10 of 12 from the charity stripe, another career best.

"My hats off to the Central Penn team," said Howard head coach Kevin Nickelberry.  "Despite the fact that they were undersized and undermanned, they gave a great effort. The game plan obviously was to go to Marcel early and often.  The best thing about it is that he is now finishing.  He has been a solid rebounder in the past but now each game he gets better in the scoring area."

Added Boyd.  "We knew coming in that they were a smaller team and that it would be our advantage to get the ball inside.  I got into a comfort zone."

Daniel, the 5-11 junior guard from Hampton, VA, who came into the game leading the nation in scoring with 29.5 points, got off to a slow start scoring nine points that included one field goal.  But the Bison got contributions from sophomore reserve guard Dalique Mingo (6 points), junior forward Solomon "Solo" Mangham (6 points) and junior guard Kofi Andoh (5 points).

'You can see that we are trying to find the right chemistry with JT (Miller) and Tyler (Stone) out of the lineup," said Nickelberry of the two injured starters.  "Daniel has to learn how to play with Dalique, Kofi and Solo (Mangham). There were times when you could see it affect us, especially in the ballhandling area.  JT and Tyler are our secondary ballhandlers to Daniel so now Kofi, Solo and Dalique have to assume that role.  This was a good game to work on those things."

In the second half, Daniel found his range and scored 15 of his points after intermission.  By that time, Howard had opened a 22-point lead and forced Central Penn College to play catchup the rest of the way.

The Bison had five players in double figures for the first time this season.  Daniel (24 points), Boyd (24 points, 16 rebounds, 8 blocks), Mangham (12 points, 10 rebounds), Mingo (11 points) and Damon Collins (10 points) all contributed to the balanced attack.

Howard had a 50-30 advantage on the boards and 46-36 in the paint.

The Knights were led by Dominque Twiggs with 23, John Starks, Jr with 21, Tyree Tucker with 13 and Rafeeq Bush with 11.

NEXT UP
The Bison open MEAC play against the Aggies of North Carolina A&T on Saturday at 4 pm in Greensboro, NC.