Washington, DC—James "J-Byrd" Daniel, III poured in a game-high 38 points to lead Howard University to a 77-74 win over the University of Maryland Shore in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's game at Burr Gymnasium.  The win snapped a four-game losing skid.

In the process, Daniel became the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,755 points.  He needed seven points to reach the milestone and he got the record on two free throws less than two minutes into the game. The previous high was 1,724 held by former Howard Aaron Shingler from 1963-67.

    "That's everything, it's been a blessing," said an excited Daniel. "Coach (Kevin Nickelberry) put me in a great position for me to accomplish this. We talked about it all week and to make sure that we win and get the fans back.  It is a great accomplishment but it is even better that we got the win.

    "We're talking about a 50-year old record. This young man (J-Byrd) has done it in three years. He's taken this program to a point where teams have to come out and play against us every night," added Howard head coach Kevin Nickelberry. 

The nation's leading scorer all season, the junior guard came out firing from the tip as he scored 11 of his team's first 15 points to set the tone.  He had 22 at the half as the Bison (11-15, 5-6 in the MEAC) led 44-37.Howard kept the Hawks (8-19, 5-7 in the MEAC) at bay as Damon Collins aided Daniel in scoring.

The Bison appeared to have problems midway through the second half when starting center Marcel Boyd (3 points, 3 rebounds) and Collins (11 points, 7 rebounds) fouled out.  But Daniel and Tyler Stone combined to make sure that UMES would not sweep them.The two combined for 11 of their team's 13 points down the stretch to help put the game away.

    "We got stops," explained Nickelberry on the defense in the last two minutes. We knew Elliott and Martin were some of the best players in the league. We wanted to make sure those two didn't hurt us down the stretch."

Daniel, who had been in a shooting slump, connected on 10 of 19 from the field while converting 16 of 23 free throws.  The 23 attempts was a career high.  Stone made a strong contribution with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

    "He was huge; he was big," said Nickelberry of Stone's performance. "He gives us a physical presence. He played tough when Marcel got in foul trouble and he battled Elliott all night."

The Hawks were led by Devin Martin with 26, Domonique Elliott with a double double of 19 points and 12 rebounds and Baraki Copeland with 15.

As a team, Howard was coming off back-to-back games when it shot less than 40 percent in losses.  But the Bison got off to the good start, hitting on 60 percent (15 of 25) in the first 20 minutes and 51 percent for the game.

With a short bench and foul trouble, the Bison got some unexpected help from their bench in Kofi Andoh (4 points, 4 steals) and Jalen Jones (5 points, 3 rebounds).

    "We've fought through adversity all year with injuries," said Nickelberry, who lost two starters for most of the season, "Guys have stepped up and played tough."

NEXT UP:  Howard hosts Savannah State on Saturday at 4 pm in Burr Gymnasium.