Calvin Thompson scored 15 points, including a tiebreaking layup with 48 seconds remaining, as Howard defeated North Carolina A&T 51-50 Tuesday in the first round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.
Thompson's basket gave the 10th-seeded Bison (10-20) a 49-47 lead after neither team had scored for 4 minutes.
DaMetrius Upchurch made one free throw with 29 seconds left for the seventh-seeded Aggies (12-20) but missed the second. Two free throws by Mike Phillips widened Howard's lead to three, 51-48, before a layup by Upchurch with 4 seconds left ended the scoring.
Howard will face No. 2 seed Norfolk State in the quarterfinals Wednesday. The Bison got 10 points from Prince Okoroh, nine from Simuel Frazier and seven points and eight rebounds from Phillips.
Adrian Powell scored 16 points and Upchurch 13 for the Aggies, who made just 1 of 11 from 3-point range. Austin Witter blocked six shots.
