Washington, DC—The Howard University men's basketball team will be looking to win its second straight game in a row for the first time this season when it hosts Central Penn in a non-conference game at Burr Gymnasium on Sunday at 6 pm.  It will be the third game in five days for the Bison (2-8).
 
Howard is coming off a 77-66 home win over Shenandoah on Friday that snapped a three-game skid.  In that game, Charles "CJ" Williams poured in a career-high 29 points and got plenty of support from Dalique Mingo, Solomon "Solo" Mangham and Kofi Andoh
                 
A 6-5 ½ freshman guard from Richmond, VA, Williams has emerged as go-to player due to the absence of injured players James "J-Byrd" Daniel, III (high ankle sprain), James "JT" Miller (broken hand) and Damon Collins (ankle injury).
                 
Williams has been hot of late as he was in the win over Shenandoah as he went 10 of 17 from the field.  The talented freshman scored on a variety of plays that included long three pointers, soft floaters over outstretched hands, hard drives to the basket and a monster dunk for good measure.
                 
"CJ is a born scorer," noted Nickelberry.
                 
Mingo, a 6-2 junior guard, has also made significant contributions since being inserted into the starting lineup.  He scored a career-high 16 points and dealt out a career-best six assists and grabbed 6 rebounds in perhaps his best all-around performance in his career.
                 
Andoh, a 6-4 senior guard, has also stepped up his game, tallying 10 points and corralling 7 rebounds to contribute to the victory.
                 
A 6-6 senior forward from Atlanta, GA, Mangham is the only starter who has played in all the games this season.  He recorded a double double (11 points, 11 rebounds) in the win.
                 
In the Knights (12-4), the Bison face a team that handled easily last season with a 98-79 victory.  In that game, Marcel Boyd dominated with 24 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with 24 points from Daniel.
                 
But this Central Penn is different from last year and it has not gone unnoticed on Nickelberry.  The Knights rely heavily on senior guard Tyree Tucker (19.4 ppg) and senior forward Tyree Orosco (19.7 ppg, 10.4 rpg).
                 
"Central Penn is a very good small college team," he said.  "They are averaging over 94 points a game and they are a senior-laden team.  Their only losses have come to Division 1 teams. The key is for us to control the tempo with our inside presence and our defense."
 
DUBIOUS DISTINCTION:  The Howard program has been racked with key injuries over the past three years.  Since 2013, the projected starters, have played together as a unit in only 37 of 106 games.  The team is 19-18 with the starters in the lineup.  Every starter and some reserves have missed games due to injuries.
 
INJURIES UPDATE:  Add another injury to the list.  Reserve red-shirt sophomore forward Jalen Jones suffered an ankle injury in the Shenandoah game and could be out for a while. Daniel could be back as early as two weeks, Miller is out at least four weeks and Collins has a game-by-game status.
 
NEXT UP: The Bison travel to Norfolk, VA to take on Old Dominion University on Wednesday, December 22 at 7 pm.