Catonsville, MD – A truly dominating performance for the Dragons as they were able to blow out the CCBC Catonsville Cardinals by the score of 84-56. With the win, the Dragons improve to 8-1 in Region 20 and have clinched a top 4 seed in the regional tournament.
 
Howard got out to a great start as Marquis Freeman (Manassas, VA/Fork Union Prep) and Andrew Mills (Owings Mills, MD/Newtown) scored the first 11 points for the Dragons as they held the Cardinals to just six points in the first 10 minutes thanks to a suffocating defense. Catonsville started to find the net to close the lead, but layups by Shane Taylor (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) and Cameron Watts (Columbia, MD/Boys Latin) helped to stem the tide.
 
The Dragons continued to work the ball inside as layups by Koby Baptiste (New Carrollton, MD/Parkdale), Jalen Bowie (Frederick, MD/Frederick), Freeman and Mills in successive possessions opened the Howard lead up to 12. Benjamin Murphy (Reisterstown, MD/Franklin) hit shots on back-to-back plays and then a buzzer beating three pointer by Taylor made it a 34-23 Dragon lead at halftime.
 
Howard continued to open up their lead early in the second half as Ethan Wilson (Manassas, VA/Osbourn Park) hit a couple of shots while also assisting on a Freeman three pointer as the Dragons went on a 10-0 run to make it a 21 point lead. The game continued on that trend as the Cardinals could do nothing to get past the dominant Dragons as the lead grew throughout the second half in a true rout as Howard led by as much as 35 in the second half.
 
With the easy win, Howard was able to spread the scoring around as 13 different Dragons scored in the game. Freeman led the way with 13 points and 12 rebounds while Shane Taylor (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) scored 11 points with seven rebounds including six offensive boards. Mills nearly missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds while Murphy and Baptiste finished with 9 and 8 points respectively. The team numbers in the game were staggering as Howard out-rebounded Catonsville  53-22 as the Dragons pulled down 20 offensive rebounds. The Dragons scored 39 bench points and 44 points in the paint.
 
With a three game winning streak in tow, the Dragons will travel to Potomac State on Saturday, February 18 for a 2 PM matinee. The Catamounts have won 7 of the last 10 contests between the two regional rivals, although the Dragons got the better of Potomac State in their last meeting as Howard won 97-52 at home back in 2022.