Greensboro, NC—January 19—The Howard University men's basketball team was never able to get untracked offensively as they fell behind big early and went scoreless for the last 9:36 of the first half en route to a 61-37 loss to North Carolina A&T in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at the Corbett Sports Center.

The Aggies (9-10 overall, 2-2 in the MEAC) wasted little time in putting the Bison in a hole with a huge 17-5 run to start the game. Most of the damage was done by Adrian Powell, who outscored Howard by pouring in 21 of his career-high 23 points in the first half. NC A&T took a comfortable 38-13 lead to the locker room.

The Bison (4-15 overall, 1-4 in the MEAC) missed 18 of their 24 shots and were out-rebounded 24-12 by the hosts. Howard's problems were compounded by the loss of team-leading scorer Mike Phillips, who picked up two quick fouls and had to sit out 15 minutes. Phillips finished with six points, seven under his average.

The Bison appeared to show life in the first two minutes, outscoring the Aggies, 5-0 to cut the

deficit to 38-18. Following a timeout, NC A&T resumed control and was able to get scoring from its bench to put the game away.

Howard did a much better job on the boards in the second half, holding a 22-14 advantage, but it not enough to offset the lack of scoring for long periods and a poor shooting night (25 percent on 12 of 48 from the field).

Simuel Frazier led Howard with 9 points and 5 assists and Alphonso Leary finished with 7 points and 9 rebounds.

The Aggies got for 23 from Powell, 9 from Bruce Beckford and DaMetrius Upchurch and 8 from

Jeremy Underwood off the bench.

NEXT UP: Howard continues on its road trip on Monday when it travels to Durham, NC to take on North

Carolina Central at 7:30 pm while the Aggies host Morgan State University on Saturday at 4 pm.