Norfolk, Va. (Mar. 12, 2015) --- Delaware State has advanced to the 2015 MEAC Tournament Final Four after a 65-60 win over No. 4 Howard in a quarterfinal contest Thursday evening at the Scope Arena.
Freshman Todd Hughes led the fifth-seeded Hornets with 19 points on seven-of-14 shooting from the field, including three three-point field goals (3-for-4). Hughes has scored 44 points in two games against Howard this season. He scored a career-high 25 in DSU's 79-76 win over the Bison on Jan. 12.
Tyshawn Bell added 18 points for the Hornets. Bell was six-for-10 from the field, including four-of-eight from beyond the arc.
Howard's James Daniel III led all players with 25 points.
Delaware State has reached the MEAC Tournament semifinals for the second time in three years, and 15th time overall.
The Hornets will face No. 1 seed North Carolina Central in a Friday semifinal contest. Game time is 6 p.m. NCCU is the defending MEAC tournament and 2014-15 regular season champ.
The Eagles defeated the Hornets 55-54 in the lone regular season meeting between the teams this season on Jan. 26 in Durham, N.C.
Howard led Delaware State 54-51 when Hughes knocked down his second three-pointer of the contest to tie the game for the 10th time with 2:55 left to play.
After a Howard turnover, Hughes drilled another three-pointer to put the Hornets ahead for good, 57-54, with 1:54 remaining.
Howard again turned the ball over, and Amere May followed with two free throws to stretch the Hornets' lead to 59-54 at the 34 second mark of the second half.
The Bison snapped the Hornets' 8-0 run when Daniels hit two free throws to cut DSU's lead to 59-56 with 27 seconds left.
Bell knocked down two free throws, while May hit two at the line and put an exclamation point on the win with a dunk in the closing moments.
Despite shooting just 33.3% from the floor (10-for-30), the Hornets held a 26-25 lead at the break. May was held to just two points on one-of-five shooting from the field in the first half; and Kendall Gray sat out the last 12 minutes of the half with two fouls.
Bell had three first half three-pointers and Hughes scored six points to keep the Hornets afloat in the opening 20 minutes.
Howard scored seven unanswered points to open up a six-point second half lead. Daniels capped off the run with three free throws to give the Bison a 38-32 lead with 14:14 remaining in the game.
The Hornets answered with an 8-2 run, and tied the game at 40 on two free throws by Gray at the 12:19 mark of the second half.
Delaware State hit 11-of-25 second half shots to improve to 38.2% shooting for the game (21-of-55). The Hornets were five-for-seven on three-point shots (87.5%) in the final 20 minutes.
Howard shot 52.2% after the break (12-for-23), but was plagued by 11 second half turnovers.
The Bison committed 16 turnovers in the game, compared to eight for the Hornets.
Delaware State won its season-best fourth straight game to improve to 17-16 this season, while Howard ends the 2014-15 campaign with a 16-16 overall record.
A win over North Carolina Central Friday evening would put Delaware State in the MEAC Tournament championship game for the first time since 2007, when the Hornets ended a three-year run of title game appearances.
DSU captured its only MEAC title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2005.
STINGERS
May has reached double figures in scoring in 23 straight games, although his string of nine with 20-or-more points was snapped in the contest … his consecutive game streak with at least one three-point field goal now stands at 26 … Hughes is 12-for-19 from the field in the Hornets' two 2015 MEAC Tournament victories.
