Columbia, MD - The Chesapeake Skipjacks gave Howard their toughest battle of the young season, but the Dragons emerged victorious 70-64 to make it 37 consecutive home victories.

Chesapeake jumped out to an early lead on the Dragons before Ethan Wilson (Manassas, VA/Osbourn Park) hit a long three pointer to finally get Howard on the scoreboard. Howard began to look more like themselves after that as Andrew Mills (Owings Mills, MD/Newtown) bullied his way around the paint, scoring the next six Dragon points followed by a hoop and harm by Benjamin Murphy (Reisterstown, MD/Franklin) to give the Dragons their first lead of the game.

The two teams seemed destined to be eternally tied until a strong 7-0 run by the Dragons led by a Cameron Watts (Columbia, MD/Boys Latin) three points and a tough Jalen Bowie (Frederick, MD/Frederick) layup put Howard ahead, only to see Chesapeake respond with an 8-0 run themselves. 

Nursing a 35-32 halftime lead, Mills again started to take over with early points which then opened up layups for Kahleem Jennings (Severn, MD/Meade) and Murphy and a Marquis Freeman (Manassas, VA/Fork Union Prep) three to give Howard a 12 point lead. The Skipjacks' Elisha Gregory single handedly brought his team back, scoring inside and out to cut the Howard lead to one at 60-59 with four minutes left. 

After a couple of Mills free throws, Gregory again scored for Chesapeake with a tip-in with less than two minutes remaining. With the game on the line, it was Murphy who stepped up for the Dragons with a strong drive and finger roll layup followed by a huge Mills three pointer to get Howard ahead by six as the Dragons were then able to make enough free throws to close out the game. 

Mills led the way with 18 points, seven rebounds and two blocks for Howard while Murphy scored a career high 15. Freeman and Jennings added seven each while Bowie and Watts each chipped in six. 

The Dragons improve to 4-0 in the regional standings as they get a week off for the Thanksgiving break before hosting Harford on Tuesday, November 29 at 7 PM.