Bison take victory in battle of the youngsters

The Burr was rocking Monday night as the Howard Men’s Basketball team battled the Aggies of North Carolina A&T State University in one of the more interesting MEAC matchups of the year. Both teams battled hard up and down the floor as chants of “Aggie Pride” and “You Know” were shouted from opposite sides of the stands. In the end, it was the Bison who came out on top with a final score of 68-60.

The game featured two of the youngest teams in the conference. The Aggies are playing with a whopping ten freshmen this year, while the Howard roster features nine, four of them being starters. Both teams were tied for seventh in the conference at (3-4) coming into the game making this a huge matchup in the race to the MEAC tournament in March.Howard

This game was a dogfight from start to finish. Tension ran high, as there were several hard fouls and multiple minor spats that had to be broken up by officials. The game ended with a total of 62 foul calls and 82 free throw attempts.

“Fouls are just the nature of the game,” said Bison head coach Kevin Nickelberry. “This was a very physical game.”

The Bison won this game at the free throw line as the teams’ second half free throw percentage was just about the only thing that separated them. The Aggies shot 61.9 percent from the charity stripe in the second half, while the Bison were able to shoot an impressive 80.8 percent.

Nickelberry said that it was his team’s free throw conversions late in the game that got them the win.

“Our guys say free throws win ball games and they do,” he said. “Tonight we made them, and we made them down the stretch when they mattered.”

Both teams struggled from the field early. Howard was only able to go 7-18 in the first half, and actually scored more points from the charity stipe than they did from the field. With solid free throw shooting and some help from the Aggies’ who shot 35 percent from the floor in the first half, Howard found themselves tied at 28 with eight seconds left in the first half of play.

Then, five time MEAC Rookie of the Week honoree James Daniel, who led the team in scoring with 23 points, was able to give Howard a bit of separation by driving to the basket for two and drawing the foul with less than two seconds left in the half. Converting on the three-point play, Daniel sent Howard into halftime up 31-28.

Both teams came out a little sloppy in the second half. Howard, who only had seven team fouls in the first half, surpassed that number within the first eight minutes of second half play. Freshman center Marcel Boyd fouled out of the game with 8:25 left to play, and without the services of sophomore center Oliver Ellison, the 6’7 freshman forward Tyler Stone was left to man the boards, and he didn’t disappoint.

“We were able to make up for the absence of Ellison. Tyler Stone did a great job being the back up center at 6-7,” Nickelberry said. “I was really proud of his effort. He was undersized, playing in the middle, and he pulled down 11 rebounds. He did a good job.”

Another key contribution in the second half came from freshman forward Solomon Mangham, who was second in scoring for the team with 12 points.

Stone was able to push the game out of reach by driving to the hole for two and drawing the foul with two minutes left in the game. Converting on the three-point play, Howard went up 65-56, and the game was all but over.

With the Aggies forced to foul, Howard iced the game with free throws and improved their conference record back to .500.

“This was a really big win for us because at 4-4 in the league, we are back in the race,” Nickelberry said.

Nickelberry says that he was excited to see Daniel back in the scoring column this game, and is confident that he will maintain that momentum going into Saturday’s game against Hampton University.

With 19 freshmen between the Bison and the Aggies, this matchup could grow to be one of the premier rivalries in the MEAC for years to come.