Daytona Beach, FL—When the Howard University men's basketball team takes on Bethune Cookman this Monday, it will be a matchup of two teams in desperate need of a win.
The Bison (5-18, 2-5 in the MEAC) dropped a 71-62 decision at Florida A&M on Saturday for their four straight loss. The game tips off at 7:30 pm in Moore Gymnasium.
The Wildcats (4-18, 1-7 in the MEAC), are also struggling. They fell to Delaware State 88-82 at home on Saturday for their fourth straight loss. Bethune Cookman has lost 11 of its last 12.
The Bison got off a slow start as their two top scorers, James "JT" Miller and Charles "CJ" Williams, each got two fouls. The result was the inability to score. Howard trailed 32-19 at the half to the Rattlers.
But the Bison got a lift from Miller, Damon Collins and reserve Tyler Stone to fight their way to a 55-50 deficit with seven minutes still left on the clock. But Florida A&M scored seven straight points in a 1:13 span to dash their hopes of snapping the current skid.
Williams, a 6-5 freshman guard who leads the team in scoring, was never able to get going after the early foul trouble and finished with eight points.
To get a win against Bethune Cookman, the Bison will need Miller and Williams to score their 30 points between them and others like Collins, Stone, Solomon "Solo" Mangham and Marcel Boyd to contribute against the high-scoring Wildcats, who average 72 points and like to create a frenetic pace.
Bethune Cookman features four players who average double figures and they have been involved in a number of high-scoring games that were decided by six points or less.
Game Notes: /documents/2017/2/6//MBBALL_24.pdf?id=521
NEXT UP: Howard travels to Hampton, Va to take on rival Hampton University next Saturday at 6 pm.
