Brooklyn Heights, NY—November 21---Howard University fell behind big to start the game, trailed by 16 at the half and then rallied to get to within four before losing, 70-52 to St. Francis (NY) in a non-conference men's basketball game at Pope Center.

The Terriers (1-2) bolted out to an 11-0 lead to start the game, capitalizing on Howard cold shooting and turnovers.  Howard (1-3) was able to get within 21-12 on the scoring of Mike Phillips and Clint Cuffee, who combined for 10 of the Bison's first half points.

Then the Terriers went on a 14-5 run led by Akeem Bennett and Ricky Cadell, who combined for 16 of their team's 35 first half points.  St. Francis led, 35-19 at the half.

But the Bison, who have shown that they are sometimes down, but never out, rallied on the scoring of Dadrian Collins, who poured in 14 of his team-high 17 points in the second half to bring the Bison to within, 39-35 at the 15:02 mark.  A 6-6 sophomore long-range bomber, Collins hit three straight three pointers during the 16-4 run.

The Terriers re-grouped and answered with an 8-1 run to take the lead back to 47-36 with 12:18 remaining.  The Bison made one final push as Collins hit his fourth three pointer to close to within 53-45 with 7:00 remaining.

But that was as close as Howard would get as Cadell and Bennett made baskets down the stretch to hand the Bison their third straight loss and give the Terriers their first win of the season.

Playing its second straight game with its leader and floor general, Calvin Thompson, who is out with a knee injury, Howard hurt itself with 24 turnovers.  Cuffee scored a career-best 9 points while freshman center Alphonso Leary contributed 6 points and 6 rebounds.

St. Francis was led by Bennett with 19, Cadell with 13 and Dre Calloway and Akeem Johnson, with 12 and 11, respectively.  A key element in the Terriers' success was the foul shooting where they went to the line 39 times, converting 27 into points.

NEXT UP: Howard will try to snap its three-game skid when it hosts crosstown rival American University on Tuesday at 7 pm in Burr Gymnasium.