By Badi Cross

Nearly 50 students and staff filled the dimly lit basement of Blackburn as Howard University hosted a watch party for the Wednesday game. The party included food and games to enjoy, along with the live stream.

Howard’s Men’s Basketball team fought back from a 17-point deficit in their NCAA Tournament First Four matchup against Wagner College but ultimately fell short of a victory.

Students gather to watch the game in the Blackburn basement.  (Badi Cross, HU News Service)

The game’s opening tip went to Wagner, but guard Isaiah Warfield took charge, giving the Bison the ball. Graduate forward Seth Towns quickly converted a three to give the Bison the game’s first points.

Howard entered this game dealing with injuries, with sophomores Shy Odom and Dom Campbell returning from missing games and former All-MEAC Third Team guard Jelani Williams missing nearly the entire season. Coach Kenneth Blakeney highlighted these struggles after the game.

“Before the game, we were at 82 games missed from guys in our rotation,” said Blakeney. “With that, there’s never been any kind of continuity with this group. It’s been one of the most challenging years I’ve had in basketball.”

The Bison continued to attempt to score but turned the ball over missed shots multiple times, giving Wagner a 9-6 lead by the first timeout.

A three-pointer to beat the shot clock by Wagner guard Melvin Council Jr., who finished the game with a game-high 21 points, put his team up by six points. Immediately, Bison center Bryce Harris took the ball inside the paint and scored a contested layup to bring the score back to 12-8.

Howard continued to feed Harris down low, leading to another bucket and a drawn foul for Harris on their next two possessions.

Turnovers continued to plague Howard, as they gave up five turnovers by the 10-minute mark in the first half. By the 7:12 mark in the half, the score was 23-12, with Wagner taking control early.

A barrage of three-pointers by Wagner players increased their lead to 17, a 15-2 run before it was stopped by Howard sophomore Shy Odom and Harris on back-to-back layups.

A steady stream of buckets by the Bison inched them back to within 11, bringing them back to 38-27 at the end of the half.

The Howard offense struggled, with the team shooting under 30% from the field, while Wagner shot 55%.

Starting the second half, Towns, who would go on to finish the game with 16 points, hit a contested jumper, bringing the score to within double-digits. However, Wagner continued their hot streak, ballooning the lead to 16 with under 15 minutes left in the game.

A steady comeback for Howard started to transpire as senior Jordan Hairston, junior Marcus Dockery, and sophomore Dom Campbell began to make some shots for the team. The lead decreased to 10, but it would stay there as both squads would go back and forth.

Three last-second shots at the end of the game all missed for the Bison, costing the team the game, 71-68.

Harris, who finished with 16 points and six rebounds, said that the comeback showed his team’s resilience.

“To be honest with you, this is a resilient basketball team,” Harris said. “So the fact that we did that honestly didn’t shock me. That run was a testament to everything that we’ve been through throughout the season.”

After the game, Towns, who has now played in his final college basketball game, spoke about how important coming to Howard and being at an HBCU was to him.

“I can say that it’s a true honor to play for an HBCU,” said Towns, an 8th-year student going for his Ph.D. “It’s one of the more empowering experiences that I’ve ever had. It goes so much deeper than basketball. It goes to the spirit that we see in who we become as men. We’re playing for something that’s so much bigger than us.”

Howard head coach Kenneth Blakeney followed up his student-athletes comments by discussing the game’s final play.

“I think we were able to get three great looks at the basket,” said Blakeney. “But sometimes the basketball gods are with you, and sometimes they’re not.”

At the watch party, junior Nila Kennedy-Young said she didn’t have much hope until the end.

“The game went fine,” said Kennedy-Young. “I just wish they played as aggressive as they did towards the end throughout the entire game. I think they could’ve won.”

Howard ended the season with an 18-17 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the second time in a row.