Frederick, MD – The #1 seed Howard Dragons suffered an upset at the hands of the #4 seeded Montgomery Raptors by the score of 69-61 in the Region 20 tournament semifinals as the Howard season comes to an unceremonious end. The Dragons finish an otherwise successful season at 22-6 in a year where they were ranked as high as #16 nationally in the NJCAA Division II.
 
Montgomery got out to the early lead at 18-9 midway through the first half before an Andrew Mills (Owings Mills, MD/Newtown) three pointer started the Howard comeback with an O'Meech layup five minutes later making it a 26-25 Raptor lead. Koby Baptiste (New Carrollton, MD/Parkdale) scored a tough hoop and harm late, but a strong Montgomery finish to the end of the half had the Raptors up 34-28 at halftime.
 
The Dragons came out firing in the second half with Baptiste making a tough layup followed by a Marquis Freeman (Manassas, VA/Fork Union Prep) three pointer and a couple Baptiste free throws to give Howard their first lead since the opening minute of the game. After Montgomery responded with a basket, it was Benjamin Murphy (Reisterstown, MD/Franklin) who scored a tough three-point play to put Howard back ahead. That would be the last time the Dragons would lead in the game as Montgomery proceeded to go on an 11-0 run as Howard would go 10 minutes of game time in the second half without a single made field goal.
 
Down 55-46 with five minutes left, the Dragons made one last run as a Murphy fast break bucked and a Freeman three pointer cut the Montgomery lead to four. That would be the closest Howard would get again as the Raptors answered with the next couple of baskets to put the game out of reach to end the Dragons' season.
 
Baptiste led the Dragons in scoring once again with 16 points along with seven rebounds to earn All-Tournament honors while Freeman also scored 16 in the game. Wilson scored 11 points while Murphy chipped in eight more.
 
The Dragons will be forced to say goodbye to a large sophomore class including Ethan Wilson (Manassas, VA/Osbourn Park), Kahleem Jennings (Severn, MD/Meade), Trea Keys (Columbia, MD/Wilde Lake), Cameron Watts (Columbia, MD/Boys Latin), Koby Baptiste (New Carrollton, MD/Parkdale), Marquis Freeman (Manassas, VA/Fork Union Prep), Stephen Doar (Juba, South Sudan/Minnesota Prep).