Williamson Leads Howard to Fifth Straight Win

Washington, DC--Ron Williamson continued his assault on conference opponents, scoring 19 of his game-high 34 points in the second half to lead Howard to a 74-68 win over Florida A&M University in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's game at Burr Gymnasium. The win was the fifth straight for the surging Bison (10-13 overall, 8-6 in the MEAC) and sixth victory in the last seven games while the Rattlers (12-10 overall, 7-6 in the MEAC) had their three-game win streak snapped.

It was a nip-and-tuck affair through most of the first half as Florida A&M took a 37-33 lead to the lockeroom. Terrence Woods and Demarcus Wilkins combined for 27 of the team's 37 points on 9-of-13-shooting from the field. The Bison were fortunate to trail by only four after shooting only 27 percent (9 of 33) from the floor. Williamson, who was earlier named MEAC Player of the Week, suffered through a poor first half, missing 12 of his 16 shots from the floor.

"They did a good job of forcing me to take some bad shots in the first half," admitted Williamson, who has scored 30 or more points in four straight games. "Their big men were stepping out on me and taking away some of the things I like to do.

In the second half, I settled down and started using some pump fakes and taking the ball to the basket more."

Still, Florida A&M refused to go away and stayed close through most of the second half.
Then Howard took the lead for good at 64-62 on a driving layup by Williamson at the 3:14 mark. He followed with two free throws and a short jumper in the lane to push the margin to 68-62. Kyle Williams, who scored 12 points and James Wilkinson, who contributed 18, helped provide balance to the attack down the stretch.

Another key to the second half turnaround was the Bison defense on Woods, who came into the game as one of the nation's top three-point shooters. After making half of his six attempts from beyond the stripe in the first half, the Howard defense held him to only two in six attempts in the second half.

"We did a much better job playing help defense on him in the second half," said Williamson. "Whenever he got the ball everyone helped out to make sure he did not get good looks."
The Rattlers were led by senior center Jermaine Hill, who scored a team-high 24 points and Woods and Wilkins, who finished with 19 and 11, respectively.

Florida A&M will try to re-group on Saturday, February 22 when it hosts Hampton University at 4 p.m. in Tallahassee, FL while Howard will attempt to extend its current streak when it travels to Orangeburg, SC to take on conference leader South Carolina State on Saturday at 4 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Louis Ford, who was named MEAC Rookie of the Week, continues to be the catalyst for the Bison with his floor generalship during the current win streak… he finished with six points, six assists, four rebounds and only one turnover…Wilkinson is coming on strong, having