By Brandon Walker for Urban Media Today
Washington, DC—Howard produced a balanced effort on offense as well as a suffocating defense as they scored a critical victory to keep pace in the MEAC by the score of 79-53 on Saturday evening at the Burr Gymnasium.
Bryce Harris and Jaden Cooper traded baskets to begin the game. Chris Flippin scored on a thunderous, fast-paced dunk to put UMES (8-18, 4-5 MEAC) up by two. Harris answered with a dunk of his own to put Howard (16-10, 6-3 MEAC) back up by one. Travelle Bryson came off the bench and immediately hit a three-pointer for the Bison to put Howard up by four at the first media timeout. The game started to get a little sloppy, with poor shot selection and reckless turnovers on both sides, as Howard led 12-10 at the second media timeout.
The play got crisper as adjustments were made on both sides as Harris made a three-pointer to put the Bison up seven, and Bryson followed it up with a jumper from the top of the key and an alley-oop dunk. UMES was staying within striking distance when Alex Cotton hit a three-pointer to stop a scoring drought. UMES had its opportunities to cut into the lead, but Howard got into the bonus and was increasing its lead without consistently making field goals. That changed when Bryson, Harris, and Cedric Taylor made baskets toward the end of the half. Dorian Staples made the first UMES three-pointer of the half with 13 seconds left as part of scoring the last five points of the half to cut into the deficit.
Halftime Score: Howard 41, UMES 30.
The key stat of the first half was Howard out-rebounding 20-8 and recording 12 assists to four for UMES.
Harris began the second half scoring with a three-pointer, followed by a basket by Taylor, as they started to assert themselves on the defensive games with blocked shots and transition baskets from UMES turnovers and increased their lead to 20 points by the first media timeout of the second half as Howard cruised the rest of the way to a critical victory as it avenged its 82-73 loss on Jan. 9.
KEY FACTORS:
Howard scored 26 points off turnovers to six for UMES, and Howard scored 14 second-chance points to four for UMES.
Taylor led all scorers with 22 points for Howard, followed by Harris with 17. Bryson scored 16 points off the bench. Trey Brown was the only UMES player in double figures with 14 points.
Howard will play next at Delaware State on the road, while UMES will go back home to play Norfolk State, as both games will take place on Monday evening.
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