Deng, Nesbitt come up clutch as HU ends skid

The drought is over.

Jerry Deng made two 3-pointers in the final 1:04 to finish with a game-high 21 points and Jordan Nesbitt made three free throws in the final 12 seconds as Hampton snapped a 13-game losing streak with a 63-61 victory over Howard on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey.

The game was part of the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic and TNT televised it.

Nesbitt finished with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Pirates (5-18), who had not won since a 100-53 victory over Mary Baldwin on Dec. 11.

Despite being outrebounded 51-40, the Pirates held Howard (9-14) to 29.5% shooting from the field and 23.8% (5 of 21) from 3-point range.

The Bison jumped out to a 9-2 lead and led the rest of the half, including 34-27 at the break. They took their biggest leads at 38-27 and 56-45, the latter coming with 5:08 left in the game.

Hampton, though, went on a 9-0 run to cut its deficit to 56-54 with 1:27 left.

After Isiah Warfield made two free throws to extend Howard’s lead to 58-54 with 1:16 left, Deng hit 3-pointers with 1:04 left and 24 seconds left to put the Pirates ahead 60-58. It was their first lead since scoring the first basket of the game.

Nesbitt finished it off by sinking a free throw with 12 seconds left and two more with 1 second left to give HU a 63-58 lead. Ose Okojie hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.

Dom Campbell paced Howard with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Bryce Harris had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Hampton will return to CAA play at 7 p.m. Thursday at home against Hofstra.