Box Score WASHINGTON, D.C. – James Daniel hit a 3-pointer right before the buzzer in overtime to give Howard a 61-59 victory over the Norfolk State men's basketball team on Monday night at Burr Gymnasium.
 
Down by one, the Bison had one last possession in the extra session after an offensive foul on the Spartans gave Howard the ball back with 35.5 seconds left. After a timeout, Daniel eventually got the ball near midcourt with 10 seconds left. The sophomore took numerous dribbles and made his way to the right wing. His trey over the outstretched arm of an NSU defender came with just 0.5 seconds on the clock.
 
Ultimately, the loss did not affect NSU's standing in the MEAC, as the Spartans still sit alone in second place in the conference at 11-4. They need a victory over Hampton on Thursday or a UMES loss to Morgan State the same night to clinch the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
 
NSU's overall record fell to 18-12.
 
The contest against the Bison (16-14 overall, 10-6 MEAC) was very much a back-and-forth affair, with neither team holding more than a five-point lead after halftime.
 
In overtime, James Miller converted his third 3-point play of the game to start the scoring. Junior Jeff Short answered with a pair of free throws and a bucket at the 3:19 mark for a one-point NSU edge. But over the next few minutes, neither team could put any more points on the board.
 
The Bison had a shot with a minute left when Daniel went up for the fastbreak layup. Junior D'Shon Taylor, though, just got his fingertips on the ball while avoiding the foul to keep the Spartans up by one. Then on the other end, junior RaShid Gaston drove into a defender in the lane and was called for his fifth foul of the game. With 35.5 seconds left, the Bison were able to set themselves up for the final play of the game.
 
Then again, the contest only went to overtime after neither team was unable to convert in the last minute of regulation.
 
Down by one at the break, Miller completed a 3-point play at the 12:22 mark of the second half to put Howard back in the lead for the first time after intermission. The game went back and forth – 11 lead changes in the second half alone – until the Spartans used a 7-0 spurt to go up by five, 51-46, with just five and a half minutes left. Gaston's 3-point play started that run, but Howard answered with a pair of buckets to keep it a one-possession game.
 
Miller completed another 3-point play to tie it up at 53-53 with two minutes to go, and James Carlton's putback gave the Bison a two-point edge at the 1:10 mark. Short sank a pair of free throws on the other end eight seconds later to tie it up.
 
Then with less than a minute left, Howard's backdoor pass fell out of bounds. Senior Jamel Fuentes was called for the push-off with 20.5 seconds left to give the ball back to the Bison, but Brandon Ford threw the ball out of bounds by the HU bench with 4.7 seconds left to give NSU one last shot.
 
Taylor's buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the right wing clanked off the iron, though, to send the game to overtime.
 
Gaston finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds for this 16^th double-double of the year. He sank 5-of-9 from the field and 8-of-12 from the free throw line and also had 11 offensive rebounds among his 15 boards.
 
NSU finished with a 42-34 edge on the glass and also outscored the Bison 40-28 in points in the paint. The Spartans, though, shot just 1-of-12 from 3-point range.
 
Short was the only other Spartan in double figures with 14.
 
Gaston had six points early on, including a pair of free throws that gave NSU a 10-2 lead to start the game. The teams began to trade buckets, and Howard got to within three with 8:45 on the clock when Damon Collins converted an easy layup. A short time later, the Bison went on a 9-2 run, capped by a fastbreak layup by Daniel, to go up by one with a little more than a minute left.
 
Down 28-27 at that point, the Spartans got an off-balance jumper from Taylor and a last-second layup from Fuentes to take a 31-30 advantage into the locker room.
 
Daniel had 19 points to lead Howard, which included 13 points in the first half. After he sank a trey at 18:05 of the second half, though, he was held scoreless for 23 minutes until his final trey in overtime.
 
The Spartans shot just 22-of-60 (36.7 percent) for the game, compared to 21-of-55 (38.2 percent) for Howard.
 
NSU will close out the regular season Thursday at Hampton at 7:30 p.m.