The hope thus far this season for Howard coach Walter McGary was that his Hustlin’ Tigers would eventually be able to become the basketball team that he envisions they can be. Friday night became a huge step in that process.
Brandon Walters finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the visiting Tigers outscored fourth-ranked Tyner 13-5 over the final four minutes on their way to a 47-46 victory. That puts Howard back in the thick of the District 6-AA race with a 5-3 mark. The loss was the first in the district for Tyner.
McGary was pleased with everybody’s effort. RodDarius Martin hit the game’s go-ahead layup with 40 seconds remaining. Walters had a big block of a Trey Suttles shot attempt in the game’s final seconds, and Howard was able to sweat out a Sadik Spence 3-pointer that rimmed out at the buzzer.
“We’ve talked all season about laying it all on the line and having each other’s back,” McGary said. “I thought tonight’s game was going to get away from us, but a couple of my captains stepped up and made some big plays for us.
“I hope that we’ve grown up some during the season. This is around the time that we took off last season, and I hope this can springboard us to bigger things down the road.”