Howard boys pick up emotional win

Playing with heavy hearts, Howard's players kept themselves in position to have a shot at third place in GHSA Region 2-AAAA on Tuesday night, starting strong and finishing off Veterans, 72-50.

The Huskies and their fans were dressed out in black in memory of one of the school's assistant coaches, Micha Taylor, who died Monday night. Howard held Veterans to six points during a six-minute stretch of the fourth quarter to pull away.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Jerry Stephens, Howard: His jump shots from both the outside and mid-range distances proved tough for Veterans to stop. His play established the Huskies presence on the outside as he scored 20 points.

Joe Johnson: With his strong inside play and occasional outside jumper, Johnson prevented the Warhawks from being able to devote the balance of their defensive focus toward the outside. In fact, the Howard forward hit three 3-pointers. One of them came with less than three minutes to play in the fourth quarter that extended Howard's lead to 67-42, its largest of the game.

Josh Linder, Veterans: His 15 points and steady work in the paint were a chief reason for Veterans being able to bounce back from a 19-point deficit in the first quarter and trail by 12 early in the fourth quarter.

OBSERVATIONS

Emotional night: The school's flag was at half-staff, and with the cooperation of Veterans, Howard wore its usual black road uniforms instead of its white home versions. A moment of silence was held and a postgame prayer took place following both the boys and girls games. The Huskies appeared to ride the wave of all of that emotion to begin the game, leading 24-5 after a quarter.

Finishing it: Howard head coach Jay Lunce pointed to the Huskies needing to finish games stronger following Friday's loss to Perry, That task was taken care of against Veterans. The Warhawks cut the Huskies' lead to 12 points, down 52-40 with seven minutes to play following a technical foul against Howard. That's when the Huskies responded, going on an 18-4 run.

Where it stands: Howard remains in position to claim the third seed in the region. The Huskies' 6-5 region mark ties them with Mary Persons. Howard can clinch the spot outright with a win Friday against Upson-Lee and a Mary Persons loss to Veterans. Howard is 10-12 overall. Veterans is 3-21 and 3-8 in the region.

ALSO TUESDAY NIGHT

The Veterans girls kept their unbeaten region record intact, pulling away in the fourth quarter to win 58-42. The Huskies trailed 50-40 early in the fourth but couldn't close the gap any further as the Warhawks outscored them 17-5 in the final quarter. Kya Cochran led the Warhawks with 25 points and sank a trio of 3-pointers. Anna Nicholson had 11. For Howard, Erica Moore's 21 points led the way as Brittany Reeves added 13.

THEY SAID IT

Lunce on the win: "We're kind of in an emotional situation right now. We mentioned that we were doing this for Taylor. It's a big game. I really appreciate Veterans supporting what we were doing and switching uniforms. They've been real supportive. It's kind of hard to register a lot of things. We just told the kids that they had to finish on the defensive end and finish plays. They got a lot of second-chance points and continued to fight us. We just made that last run, and it broke their back a little bit."

Lunce on the emotions playing a role in Howard's early lead: "We haven't jumped out so quickly (much this season). I'm not going to say that was all of it, but that was part of it, as well. We used it as energy, we kind of took that emotion and used it in a way that would help us and benefit. We give a lot of that credit to Taylor, as well."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Howard hosts Upson-Lee on Friday and Veterans is at Mary Persons.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Howard boys pick up emotional win ."