After a close first half last night, the Harford Fighting Owls outscored the Riverhawks by 25 points in the second half and won 97-68.

The Riverhawks move to 4-21 and the Fighting Owls improve to 12-11.

“We had a good first half [and] we slipped up in the second half,” Riverhawks forward Malik Carroll noted. “We didn’t hold together as a team. We had some injuries. At the end, we couldn’t pull through.”

Riverhawks shooting guard Jeremiah “Scoob” Stroman scored 28 points and shot 10 of 20 from the field—five of those buckets from three. Carroll, a first-year nursing student, pitched in 12 points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes of play. Forward Marquis James added a double-double—scoring 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Fighting owls scored 57 points off the bench compared to the Riverhawks 14. 

Off the bench, guard Maseo Carson scored 19 points, had eight rebounds and had five steals. Guard Jordan Butler pitched in 19 points, 1o rebounds and blocked four shots. Guard Jahsiah Lamothe contributed 16 points and five steals. Guard Kenneth Moore pitched in 13 points off the bench.  

The Fighting Owls men’s head basketball coach Dimitrios Jelen-Joy said the squad “takes a win when they get it.”

“It’s Junior College so anything can happen at any moment,” Jelen-Joy said. “There was a game in the first half and it was a game well into the second half and then we kind of pulled away midway through.”

Fighting Owls guard Jayln Hickman, a second-year education student, said the “guys made shots, coach called good plays and then we just handled business like we were supposed to.”

Moore, a second-year exercise science student, noted Stroman “gave the team problems.”

“We just had to slow him down in the second half,” Moore said.

James, a captain on the Riverhawks, said he feels confident come playoff time. 

“We’re going in, taking it serious, you know, getting ready for the playoffs,” James, a second-year business student, said. We “will be ready.”

Riverhawks men’s head basketball coach Joe Snowden agreed.

“They’re looking forward to it,” Snowden said. “They are seeded right now [in] the third spot in the region. So yes, they have a good opportunity to win.”

The Riverhawks next game is at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at home against West Virginia Potomac State College Catamounts. The Fighting Owls next game is Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Harcum College Bears. 

Reporters Cole Popov and Micah Smith contributed to this story.