In a thrilling contest between heated rivals, Hampton engaged in a heated battle with Howard, escaping with an 80-79 overtime win.
This marked Hampton’s third straight win over Howard, including their second win over them this season following an 83-67 win on December 28.
With the win, the Pirates snapped a three-game losing streak and improved their overall record to 11-12. Meanwhile, Howard dropped its fourth straight game, falling to 8-13 overall on the season.
George Beale Jr. led the way for Hampton, coming off the bench to score 28 points, hitting a season-high five three-pointers. Noah Farrakhan chipped in 16 points off the bench for the Pirates.
This is sooooo #MarchMadness! Wayne Bristol, Jr. goes window shopping on this 3-ptr and draws the foul!! He coverts the FT to give Hampton an 80-79 lead in the closing seconds here in DC! #BattleOfTheRealHU #HUvsHU pic.twitter.com/f85ZzkEbgi
— Michael Lyle, Jr. 🎧🎙 (@LyleMultimedia) February 1, 2025
Howard freshman guard Blake Harper led all scorers with 35 points, including hitting 20-of-22 free throw attempts, matching Hampton’s free throw totals.
After a competitive first half, in which the lead was exchanged seven times, Hampton began to pull away in the second half, leading for the first 19 minutes of the period.
Leading by as many as 13 points in the second half, Hampton’s advantage peaked with 2:23 remaining when Farrakhan hit two free throws to give his team a 65-54 lead.
From there, Harper and Marcus Dockery began to take over, combining to score the Bison’s final 14 points, including the game-tying layup to force overtime.
Harper continued to be aggressive in overtime, scoring nine of his team’s 10 points (all coming from the free throw line), giving his team a 78-74 lead with 42 seconds left.
With 18 seconds to go and now trailing 79-76, Wayne Bristol Jr. made the biggest play of the game for Hampton.
He hit a game-tying three at the top of the key, and after drawing a foul on the play, he hit what turned out to be the game-winning free throw to complete the four-point play.