January 23, 2007

Cold Shooting Dooms Howard In Loss To FAMU

Washington, DC-January 22-A combination of cold outside shooting and an inability to match up in the paint proved to be much as Howard University fell to Florida A&M University, 65-53 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at Burr Gymnasium.

            The Bison (7-12 overall, 3-4 in the MEAC) fell behind early to the hot shooting Rattlers (11-9 overall, 6-2 in the MEAC) and were never able to get closer than nine.  Howard missed 18 of its first 25 shots in the first half, including 5 of 19 from three-point range and trailed 36-24 at the break.

            FAMU, behind the inside dominance of Rome Sanders who hit on 7 of 9 shots from the field, shot 52 percent and held a 24-11 advantage on the boards.

            "We relied too much on the three-ball tonight," said Howard Coach Gil Jackson of his team which took a season-high 37 attempts from beyond the arc.  "We started shooting them and weren't making them.  A lot of that was mental fatigue.  We gave them a lot of confidence and we never established an inside presence.  We died by the three tonight and that's not characteristic of a team that I want to coach."

            The Rattlers extended their lead to 16 at one point on the scoring of Darius Glover and Leslie Robinson, who combined for 16 second half points.  Howard managed to cut the deficit to nine twice, but each time the Rattlers had an answer.

            Darek Mitchell led the Bison with 12 points, all courtesy of the three ball and Darryl Hudson added 11.

            Sanders led all scorers with 23 to go along with 11 rebounds, Glover tallied 16 and Robinson contributed 10.

GAME NOTES:  The Bison forced 20 turnovers, but it could not offset a 47-21 rebounding deficit...Howard attempted a season-high 37 shots from beyond the arc...Hudson has now scored in double figures in 24 of the past 26 games in which he has played dating back to last season...Gant now needs 20 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau in his career.

NEXT UP: FAMU hosts league-leading Delaware State next Saturday at 4 pm while Howard hosts Coppin State at 4 pm in Burr Gymnasium.