Howard made history on Tuesday night.
Bryce Harris hit a turnaround jumper with 13 seconds left to seal an 86-83 victory over UMBC in the First Four, giving the Bison their first NCAA Tournament win in program history. Howard entered the game 0-4 all-time in March Madness.
“We’ve done a lot of things in our program, but let’s check off the box of winning an NCAA game today,” Howard coach Kenneth Blakeney said.
Ose Okojie led the Bison with a career-high 23 points. Harris finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Howard held the lead for nearly the entire game, building as large as a 13-point advantage in the first half and taking a 49-41 lead into halftime.
UMBC refused to go away. DJ Armstrong Jr. hit a three-pointer with 43 seconds left to cut it to 83-81. Harris answered with his jumper as the shot clock expired to push the lead back to four. The Retrievers got a layup from Jah’Likah King to make it 85-83, but Isaiah Brown made one of two free throws and Armstrong could not connect on a three at the buzzer.
Okojie stayed on the floor despite picking up his fourth foul with 12:33 remaining and played disciplined basketball down the stretch.
“My teammates need me,” Okojie said. “To play those 12 minutes without fouling is discipline, truly discipline.”
Blakeney said the final moments felt like a blur.
“We went from a three-possession game to a two-possession game to a one-possession game,” he said.
King led UMBC with 19 points. Armstrong added 17 and Caden Diggs scored 15. UMBC coach Jim Ferry noted that a flight delay of more than four hours on Monday due to severe weather may have affected his team, though he stopped short of using it as an excuse.
Howard, the No. 16 seed in the Midwest Region, will now face top-seeded Michigan on Thursday in Buffalo.
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