Junior guard James Carlton scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Howard University Bison to a lopsided 64-48 win over their beltway rivals, the Morgan State University Bears, on Jan. 31 at Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C.
With the win, Howard improved to 11-10 overall and 5-2 against the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), good enough for fourth place in the MEAC standings. Morgan State fell to 4-17 overall, and 2-5 against the conference.
Morgan State had problems stopping Carlton, who was coming off a career-high 27-point performance in Howard’s win over Bethune-Cookman on Jan. 26. Carlton was still feeling that hot streak against the Bears, as he made all seven of his first-half shot attempts to push the Bison to a double-digit lead by halftime.
While Carlton ran Howard’s offense, it was the Bison defense that contributed most to the blowout, holding Morgan State to just 35 percent shooting. Bears star junior forward Cedric Blossom was held to just 10 points, and backup freshman guard Conrad Chambers ended up leading the team with 11 points off the bench.
Next: Enjoying a three-game winning streak, Howard will host University of Maryland-Eastern Shore (13-10 overall, 6-2 MEAC) on Feb. 2 at Burr Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Morgan State will face crosstown MEAC rival Coppin State the same night at the Coppin State Physical Education Complex in Baltimore. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU; tip-off is set for 7 p.m.