Tallahassee, FL—Howard University fell behind early and once trailing by as many as 13 before mounting a rally that fell short as the Bison suffered a 71-62 defeat to Florida A&M University at the Al Lawson Center. 

Howard (5-18, 2-6 in the MEAC) was taken out of its element early when its two top scorers, James "JT" Mitchell and Charles "CJ" Williams got into early foul trouble. The Rattlers (6-16, 4-5 in the MEAC) were able to take advantage when they mounted a strong finish to lead 32-19 at the half. 

"We got into foul trouble early when JT and CJ picked up fouls," said Howard head coach Kevin Nickelberry. "What we wanted to do was hold serve until we could get them back in the game." 

With Miller and Williams, who average 31 points between them unable to get going, the Rattlers took advantage and threatened to put the game away when they took a 16-point at 40-24 a little over two minutes into the second half. 

The Bison would rally on the scoring of Solomon "Solo" Mangham combined for 23 points in the second stanza and helped cut the margin to five at 55-50 with seven minutes left. 

But it was as close as they would get as Florida A&M, put together a 7-0 run in a 1:13 stretch that all but dashed the Bison's hopes for a comeback. 

"Again we had our chances, but turnovers and missed free throws hurt us," noted Nickelberry. "We had open shots but failed to make them." 

The Bison shot the ball better in the second half (15 of 29 for 51 percent) and outscored Florida A&M, but they turned the ball over 15 times and they made only 9 of 17 from the charity stripe. 

The Bison were led by Damon Collins and Miller with 14 each and Mangham and Tyler Stone with 13 and 10, respectively. Williams, who came into the game leading the team in scoring, finished with 5 points on 2 of 9 shooting from the field. 

The Rattlers, who swept the Bison, were led by Sesmond Williams with a game-high 20 points and Marcus Barnham and Justin Ravenel with 17 and 13, respectively. 

NEXT: The Bison will try to end their four-game losing skid when they take on Bethune Cookman on Monday at 7:30 in Daytona Beach, FL