Men's Basketball: Lions Defeat Dragons 96-79, End Skid at Four

DUNDALK, Md. -- CCBC Dundalk ended a four game losing streak last night with a 96-79 home victory over Howard Community College to open its Maryland JUCO Athletic Conference play. 

Sophomore Miquante Greene (Patapsco) led the Lions in scoring with 19 points - 6-of-10 shooting -  15 of which came in the first half. He was also 6-for-8 from the free throw line. 

Sophomore Terray Quickley (Baltimore Polytechnic) finished with a double-double on 17 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore Anthony Bennett Jr. (Aberdeen) scored 17 after a 12-point second half.

Freshman Emannuel Johnson (Capitol Christian Academy) came off the bench to score 16 points.

The Lions (3-6, 1-0 Maryland JUCO) held a 49-36 lead at halftime and increased its lead to 22 with a 17-8 run to open the second half.

Howard (2-5, 0-1 Maryland JUCO) refused to go quietly and went on an 18-7 run of its own to pull within 11 points. The Dragons would cut the Lions lead to as little as seven in the second half.

"We just continued to play hard," Greene said. "Every team is going to go on a run. We just didn't feed into it, kept our composer and stayed honest on defense." 

Dundalk head coach Jaron Taylor called a timeout with the Lions ahead 80-73.

"I told them the same thing we talked about at halftime," Taylor said. "We were enabling them to score [by fouling] instead of having them take contested shots. And I think that was a benefit for [Howard]."

Dragons' sophomore Juwan Grant (Baltimore City H.S.) led all scorers with 25 points and converted 12-of-14 free throw attempts. 

Howard was 26-of-30 (86.6%) shooting free throws as a team, while Dundalk was 21-of-31 (67.7%), a big reason for the Dragons late push. 

But Bennett Jr. made sure that any Howard comeback hopes would not come to fruition. 

On six of Bennett Jr.'s 12 second half points came from the free throw line. He did not miss a shot from the free stripe.

After the Dragons pulled within sevens points, the Lions would end the game on a 16-6 run to pick up its first win since Nov. 6.

Next up for the Lions is a home contest this Saturday against College of Southern Maryland. Tip off is scheduled for 4 p.m.