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The Hampton Pirates' men's basketball team starts the season on a sour note after a 92-80 opening loss to the other HU. The Pirates watched helplessly as the Howard Bison continued to pour in baskets down the stretch of the game.
After a disappointing 8-24 record last season, an opening night loss is not how Hampton wanted to start the year. Fouls and rebounding, in particular, were crucial areas where the Pirates came up short. They committed 28 fouls to Howard's 20 and grabbed only 21 rebounds to Howard's 34.
The first half, however, was very competitive. Both teams struggled to grab and maintain a lead as they battled in Washington, D.C. The game opened without a score from either side for nearly two minutes, but soon enough, neither team could stop the other. Both Howard's and Hampton's biggest leads of the half were by just six points. The two nearly evenly matched teams entered halftime with just a four point difference as Howard led 40-36.
For much of the second half, the rival HBCUs continued to jockey back and forth. Howard held the lead through much of the half, but Hampton got extremely close until the end.
Through the first few minutes, the Bison maintained a consistent advantage between six to eight points. Then, Howard guard Marcus Dockery tried his best to put the Pirates away. With a 48-42 lead, Dockery hit his first three-pointer of the half to gain a nine-point edge. Hampton's leading scorer Tedrick Wilcox Jr. answered with his own basket from downtown to keep the deficit at six points. Dockery responded again with his second three of the half. After a couple of Pirate free throws, Dockery knocked down his third consecutive triple to take a commanding 59-47 lead with 13 minutes remaining.
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Dockery's outburst, however, did not deter Hampton's assault. Powered by Wilcox, the Pirates slowly crept their way back into the game. With eight minutes left in the opener, Hampton reduced the previous 12-point deficit to a one-point, single-possession game, courtesy of a Wilcox triple.
Although the score was at 66-65 and all the momentum on their side, the Pirates could not quite get over the hump. A terrible stretch of fouls and turnovers helped the Bison make one final push. Howard went on a 14-4 run to take a controlling 80-69 lead with three minutes left. At one point, Hampton cut the lead to six, but they didn't have enough time to make a sufficient comeback.
Despite his heroics in the second half, Marcus Dockery did not lead the Howard Bison in scoring. That honor belonged to Bryce Harris. Harris dropped 23 points on an efficient 8-12 shooting night, as well as five rebounds. Dockery finished second in scoring with 21 points which included five made three-pointers. The rest of the Bison starters scored over double-digits, and forward Shy Odom tallied eight rebounds to go along with his 12 points.
While Hampton had a little bit more consistent bench production, only one player scored more than 15 points. Tedrick Wilcox Jr. led all players with 24 points and shot a blistering 6-6 from downtown. Kyrese Mullen made seven of his 10 shot attempts for 14 points. All Hampton players scored at least one basket, while four Howard players went scoreless.
