Columbia, MD - An intense conference battle between neighboring rivals resulted in an 85-81 Montgomery victory over Howard.

The two teams got off to a slow start as sloppy play and missed shots defined the opening 10 minutes of the game. Tied 20-20, Brandon Howell (Suitland, MD/Henry Wise) drained a three pointer with Jesse Calloway (Lynchburg, VA/Heritage) knocking down back-to-back shots from long range to give Howard a seven point lead.

Montgomery responded with a 10-0 run and went into the half time break ahead 41-40 on the back of Paul Garcia who scored a game high 29 points including 7-8 from three point range.

The Raptors continued to open up their lead and saw themselves ahead 74-65 with five minutes left in the second half. That's when the Dragons fought back via the charity stripe scoring the next eight points from the free throw line to make it a one point deficit. 

After another Garcia three pointer, Jordan Reid (Silver Spring, MD/Albert Einstein) hit a clutch mid-range jumper and Devin Richmond made a couple more free throws to tie the game at 77-77 with two minutes left.

A controversial play ensued as Kevin Yomba (Silver Spring, MD/Paint Branch) was called for his fifth and disqualifying foul on minimal contact which gave the Raptors Charlie Ali three free throws, who proceeded to make use of all three. With Howard down six with a minute left, Richmond made four more free throws on back-to-back possessions to put the Dragons down two with 30 seconds left. The Howard defense forced a bad shot and Reid appeared to pull down the rebound, but was called for a traveling violation as he went to the floor and Howard never touched the ball again.

Richmond scored 23 points including an 11-12 performance from the free throw line. Calloway closed with 10 points in the game, all of which were scored in the first half while Reid scored 17 off the bench.

The Dragons will next host CCAC Allegheny on Saturday, December 8 at 3 PM.