WASHINGTON (January 13, 2024) – Junior guards Marcus Dockery (Washington) and Bryce Harris (Brentwood, N.Y.) and graduate forward Seth Towns (Columbus, Ohio) combined for 35 second-half points to lead the Howard University men's basketball team to a hard-fought, 72-61, victory over Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game at Burr Gymnasium.
 
The win was the second-in-a-row for the Bison (7-11, 2-1 MEAC).
 
Towns, the team-leading scorer, and Harris combined for 12 of the team's points to start and opened a 48-37 lead at the 15:40 mark. But the scrappy Hawks (4-11, 1-2 MEAC) refused to wilt and fought their way back, using the three pointer (10-of-25 for the game) to reduce the margin to four, 59-55, at the 5:51 mark. Troy Hupstead and Tyler Mack led the charge with 11 of the 18 points during the stretch.
 
Following a timeout, Howard tightened up its defense and parlayed the scoring of Dockery, who tallied nine of his team's 11 points to open a 70-59 lead with 56 seconds remaining. During that stretch, the D.C. native connected on back-to-back three pointers.
 
Harris, the reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Week, led all scorers with 20 points to go along with seven rebounds. Dockery finished with 17 points while Towns offset a poor shooting performance (3-for-13, 2-of-10 from beyond the arc) with 12 points, five rebounds and five key assists.
 
Despite the team's three leading scorers combined to go 4-for-17 from the field in the first 20 minutes, Howard got a big boost from sophomore guard Ose Okojie (Brampton, Canada), who led his team with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. Sophomore forward Dom Campbell (Scarborough, Maine) added four key points as the Bison held on to a 31-29 lead at intermission.
 
Okojie finished with a career-high 10 rebounds and two steals.
 
The Hawks got a team-high 19 points from Hupstead and nine points from both Mack and reserve Antwan Wilson. UMES got 23 points from its bench and outscored the hosts, 10-3, on fast break points.
 
NEXT UP: Howard steps out of conference play to host Morehouse College in the annual MLK Classic Monday (Jan. 15) at 7 p.m., inside Burr Gymnasium.
 
For more information, visit the Bison Athletics website at www.HUBison.com.