[Cleveland,Oh] Saturday afternoon for the first time in NBA history the league presented a platform for two teams from Historically Black Colleges and Universities to battle on the same basketball court the the NBA All-Stars would play on the following day. Thus when the ball was tossed in the air at 2pm eastern the Inaugural NBA HBCU-Classic was born.
Howard University edged their rivals from the North Morgan State 68-66. Coach Kenny Blakeney’s Bison were powered by the 18 point performance of grad student Kyle Foster. Foster a 6’5″ sharpshooting guard from Hampton leads the NCAA in shooting from beyond the three point line, but on this afternoon he proved to be the difference at the charity stripe nailing two key free throws lifting HU to victory.
On the night Foster only connected on two of his seven attempts from behind the arc; but he proved he could score easily from the foul line knocking down 10 of his 15 shots. Foster had plenty of support from his teammates as three other Bison scored in double figures. Senior Forward Randall Brumant and Hawkins scored 17 points a piece while Senior guard Tai Bibbs knocked down 10 points of his own.
Meanwhile De’ Torrion Ware lead the Bears of Morgan State with 19 points, while Lagio Grantsaan and Chad Venning contributed 11 points each in a losing effort.
The game was not only a classic on a neutral court, it was a MEAC Conference game that counts in the standings. The Bison improve to 14-10 and 7-3 in the conference while the Bears fall to 8-13 overall and 3-6 in the conference. A bright spot of the Classic for each institution is that each university will receive $100,000 donations from the NBA and AT&T
Up Next for Howard is a home game Monday night against Coppin State in the nations capital and Morgan State will host the MEAC Conference Leading Spartans of Norfolk State in Baltimore.
The first ever NBA HBCU-Classic was reportedly established to amplify the exposure of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This event took place preceding the Taco Bell Skills challenge, the MountainDew 3-point contest and the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest.
Sunday Evening the NBA Stars took the court to play the 71st All Star game in which team LeBron defeated team Durant 163 to 161. The All-Star game MVP was Golden state Warrior Stephen Curry and his 50 point performance
