Howard holds off Coppin St in MEAC Tournament opener (Mar 06, 2017)
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) Charles Williams hit four 3-pointers and finished with 19 points, Solomon Mangham added 17 and Howard held on to beat Coppin State 79-73 on Monday night in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament.
Damon Collins had 13 points for 11th-seed Howard (9-23), which will face No. 3 seed Morgan State on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
The Bison closed the first half on a 25-13 run to take an 11-point lead at the half and extended its lead to 46-28 with 15 minutes to go. Keith Shivers answered with a layup and No. 6 seed Coppin State (8-23) trimmed its deficit 69-65 when Mufaro Murinda hit a 3 with 1:39 to go. Williams hit a 3-pointer 11 seconds later and Howard held on from there.
Dejuan Clayton led Coppin State with 16 points.
The Eagles rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat Howard 81-72 in the only regular-season meeting between the teams on Jan. 16.
