Wins have been few and far between for Howard University, but everyone starts the tournament brand new.
HU picked up its fourth win of the season on Tuesday night at the Norfolk Scope, beating South Carolina State 70-63 to advance to the quarterfinals of The MEAC Tournament. Howard will face North Carolina A&T, the second seed in the tournament, Wednesday night at approximately 8 PM.
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Senior guard C.J. Williams, the MEAC’s all-time leading scorer, extended his college career by at least one more game by scoring 24 points on 6-for-12 shooting. The Richmond native also hit three of his four 3-point attempts.
Howard also got a standout performance from Kyle Foster, who aded 18 points in just 24 minutes.
The Bison jumped on the Bulldogs early, getting out to a 15-4 lead with 13:28 left in the first half. The Bulldogs shot just 22 percent in the half and were down 29-22 heading into intermission.
SC State attempted to rally in the second half, but couldn’t get out of the hole it dug itself. It finished the season 11-18. Senior Damani Applewhite led the way with 22 points in his final game.
The win represented a sweep for HU against SC State as the two women’s programs faced off earlier in the day.
Closer Than You Think
Howard doesn’t have long to celebrate its win, though, as it has less than 24 hours before it takes on an A&T squad that just might win the whole thing.
The two teams met just once during the regular season, and it was surprisingly close given the records of the two teams. A&T came away with a 71-67 win but it had to claw its way back from a halftime deficit at home.
Howard shot a respectable 48 percent in the game and held A&T to 38 percent shooting, but it also turned the ball over 30 times.
If HU can hold on to the ball and beat A&T to the glass again, it has a shot to make the favored team sweat. Of course, it is a long shot, but stranger things have happened in the MEAC Tournament.