The Howard Bison and the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Knott Arena. Howard is 4-3 so far this year. The Bison lost to Austin Peay in their last outing. As for the Mountaineers, they’re sitting at 2-5 and fresh off a loss to Navy. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Howard started off the season with a nice three-game win streak that culminated in a 76-64 result over Bradley. Since then it’s been a 1-3 run for the Bison with losses to Villanova, High Point and Austin Peay.
In the loss to Austin Peay, the Bison kept the pace 33-33 in the second half but ultimately fell 69-67 after a 36-34 deficit in the first. Leading the way were Tai Bibbs and Kyle Foster, each with 12 points and a combined nine rebounds.
Over on the Mount St. Mary’s side, they went 1-3 over their first quartet this year with losses to Villanova, Saint Joseph’s and Kentucky. After a win over Robert Morris the Mountaineers lost their next pair to Ohio and Navy.
In the Midshipmen game, Mount St. Mary’s was down 33-18 at the break and didn’t get any closer in a 67-40 blowout defeat. Malik Jefferson was the team’s top contributor on nine points, nine rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
The Mountaineers are 0-4 ATS in their last four at home and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 as a home underdog. The under is 5-0 in Mount St. Mary’s last five at home.
Meanwhile, the Bison are 4-1 ATS in their last five road games and 3-0-1 ATS in their last four Tuesday games. Howard is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 as a favorite.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Howard. The Bison took a tough loss to Austin Peay in their last game but still shot 46 percent from the floor with a 40-26 rebounding edge. Howard hit a tepid 6-of-19 from 3-point range and coughed up 24 total turnovers, however.
As for Mount St. Mary’s, they never really stood a chance against Navy and shot just 23.4 percent from the field. I don’t think the gap here will be quite as bad, but I also don’t think the Mountaineers will be able to keep up with Howard.