Norfolk, VA—The undermanned Howard University men's basketball team fell behind early and trailed by 18 at the half, but the Bison fought and scrapped their way back into the game, only to fall 84-66 to Norfolk State in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's game at Echols Hall.
Howard (12-19, 6-10 in the MEAC), has played with 14 different starting lineups and lost two starters for the season, received yet another blow when starting guard Damon Collins was injured in the Hampton game and forced another setback.
The Spartans (15-15, 11-4 in the MEAC) jumped out to the early lead as D'Shon Taylor and Jordan Butler combined for 23 points between them.
The Bison had their problems as they shot 5 of 27 for 18 percent. James "J-Byrd" Daniel, III, the nation's leading scorer coming into the game, failed to score a field goal for the first time this season, but was 5 for 6 from the free throw line.
"I thought we were not aggressive enough in the first half," said Howard head coach Kevin Nickelberry. "We were alright on the defensive end, but we were not aggressive as we should have been on offense."
The Bison came alive in the second half as Dalique Mingo, Kofi Andoh, Marcel Boyd and Daniel led a 29-14 charge that cut the deficit to 59-56 at the 9:31 mark.
"I told the team at halftime to get it to 10 and then to a workable margin," said Nickelberry. "We were able to do that but they made some adjustments. They jumped J-Byrd and trapped Marcel and it was effective. We are going to see that in the tournament so we need to be able do some things to counter that."
That was as close as Howard would get. Norfolk State would go on an 11-2 run that opened a 70-58 lead that they would not relinquish.
It was the Spartans bench that was the difference as they outscored the visitors, 37-8. Reserves Charles Oliver (16 points) and Preston Bungei (12) were the difference against the Bison, who had only six scholarship players suited up and compounded their problems by getting into foul trouble.
Howard did shoot better the second half, but down the stretch Norfolk State, which leads the conference in free throw shooting, converted on 12 of 14 in the second half.
The Bison were led by Boyd with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, Daniel finished with 15 and Andoh and Mingo contributed 11 and 10, respectively.
It was Boyd's 10th double double of the year.
Taylor led all scorers with 20 and Butler added 18.
NEXT UP: It was the regular season finale for the Bison who now await the pairings for next week's MEAC Tournament on Norfolk.
