Columbia, MD – Jalen Bowie's three-point play with 9:35 remaining put the unbeaten Dragons ahead to stay Thursday night as Garrett College dropped its Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference opener to Howard Community College, 70-63.
Howard reserve Cameron Watts led all scorers with 20 points and teammate Andrew Mills added 12 points. The Dragons (4-0 overall, 2-0 league) outscored Garrett, 21-9, from beyond the arc as GC shot a frigid 17 percent (3-for-18) from the 3-point line.
"We haven't shot the ball well yet this season," said GC head coach Matt McCullough. "Korey [Mitchum] hit a couple of big 'threes' and that's because he's been working on them. Kamau [Mitchell] sprained his right elbow early in the game and has been dealing with a bruised right shoulder, which has hurt his perimeter effectiveness."
McCullough said GC's 18-for-34 free-throw performance "really cost us."
"We were 18-for-34, but we missed the front end of five one-and-ones, so it felt like we were 18-for-39," observed McCullough. "It's hard to beat a good team on the road when you miss so many free throws."
Nyrek Wheeler (14 points, seven rebounds) was the only Laker to crack double digits. Mitchum had nine points, Mitchell and Tyrek Simmons contributed eight points each, and AJ Crosby had seven points for GC (4-3).
"Watts got hot for them off the bench and that really gave them a spark," said McCullough. "We held their top five scorers to a combined 29 points – and had you told me we would do that before the game I would have been very pleased."
McCullough said there were bright spots to take away from the loss.
"I thought we executed the game plan well," he said. "We wanted to keep everything in front of us. Howard is very disciplined and well-coached."