Durham, NC—January 21—The shooting woes for the Howard University men's continue to haunt them as they had another poor shooting performance in a 71-36 loss to North Carolina Central in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at the McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium.

The streaking Eagles (11-7 overall, 4-0 in the MEAC), who have won five in a row, made quick

work of the Bison, bolting out to a 40-15 halftime lead and never looking back. NC Central used the long ball to put the Bison on their heels, connecting of 6 of 7 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

Eight different players scored as the Eagles shot a sizzling 70 percent (16 of 23).

Howard (4-16 , 1-5 in the MEAC) could get any consistency on offense for the second straight

game, missing 17 of its 22 shots for 22 percent shooting. Couple that with 11 points given up off 9 turnovers and it spelled trouble for the struggling Bison.

"We are just not a very good basketball team right now," declared Howard Coach Kevin

Nickelberry. "We can't make shots and we are missing free throws. The troubling thing is that we are missing open shots. We have to find answers and quickly if we are going to end this slide."

In a bit of a mild consolation, the Bison were able to limit the Eagles to only six second half field goals and hold them to 32 percent shooting from the field. But NC Central was able to expand its lead by doing damage at the three charity stripe where it converted 18 of 23 after intermission.

"It's disturbing when you get off 10 more shots than your opponent, but they are able to hit the same shots that you are missing," noted Nickelberry. "And we had 19 offensive rebounds.

It was the same scenario in our loss to A&T (61-37 on Saturday). We were able to get off more shots, but could not convert. And it results in the margin of victory. We have to find a way to change that."

Simuel Frazier led the Bison with eight and Mike Phillips and reserve Anton Dickerson each

contributed six as no Howard player reached double figures for the second straight game. Phillips did grab a game-high 12 rebounds while recording a team-high three assists.

NC Central was led by Stanton Kidd with 12, reserve Drimir Ferguson with 11 and Jay Copeland and Emanuel Chapman with 10 each. Nine different players scored for the Eagles.

NEXT UP: The Bison travel to Dover, DE to complete the third game of this three-games-in-five-days road trip against the Hornets of Delaware State on Wednesday at 7:30 pm.