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GREENSBORO — N.C. A&T had hoped to find renewed energy when it returned home Saturday after nearly two months of constant traveling.

But for most of the afternoon, the results looked uncomfortably familiar.

Howard scored the game's first eight points and moved ahead by 18 in the second half before holding off a late rally to beat the Aggies 82-77 at Corbett Sports Center, A&T's 10th loss in its last 11 games, and first at home this season.

"We just didn't play very well," said Aggies coach Jerry Eaves, whose team had played 10 of its previous 11 games on the road. "We're out of sync. It's like we're going through a period where everybody is experimenting with things they can't do."

Tavarus Alston scored 11 of his team-leading 19 points during a key 16-5 second-half run that trimmed a 13-point deficit to 68-64 with 6:50 remaining. But it wasn't enough to hold off Howard sophomore Calvin Thompson's career-high 33 points — punctuated with five free throws in the final 1:14 that helped hold off the Aggies' rally.

And while A&T (5-12, 1-3 MEAC) was within reach of the lead for the final seven minutes, Eaves pointed to the big deficit and Alston's hot finish as symptoms of the larger problems facing the Aggies.

Their latest in a series of slow starts — partly the result of youth and injuries that have produced inconsistent lineups — saw Howard score the game's first eight points and steadily build as much as a 16-point lead by the end of the first half. The Bison (4-14, 3-1 MEAC) held all the momentum through the opening half, shooting 67 percent (18 of 27) from the field and burying seven of their nine 3-pointers while scoring a season-best 49 first-half points.

Eaves hung that hot shooting entirely on his defense's improper rotations, which repeatedly left shooters open on the perimeter.

"The guys we were supposed to not leave open, we left open," said sophomore Nic Simpson, who hit five 3-pointers and scored 15 points. "And when we got on guys, we missed a couple rebounds. That's the type of stuff that killed us."

Howard maintained its hot hand in the opening minutes of the second half, hitting two of its first three shot attempts to push a 12-point halftime lead to 55-37 with 17:22 remaining.

But Alston's hot finish helped swing the momentum briefly to the Aggies' favor. The senior hit a pair of runners in the lane, converted a conventional three-point play and a pull-up jumper to help trim a 13-point deficit to 68-64 with 6:50 remaining.

"I was starting to be more aggressive," Alston said. "I just felt like I had to step up."

Alston had only scored six points in the first 29 minutes, though, to which Eaves pointed to illustrate the lack of leadership he saw during the Aggies' slow start. And after the brief run pulled A&T within reach of the lead, their 2-for-6 free-throw shooting performance in the final five minutes combined with only three defensive stops on Howard's final 12 possessions let the game slip away.

"We just didn't play hard," Eaves said. "The thing about it is, it's normal. &ellipses; We have started slow so many times, it's starting to become mundane."

HOWARD (4-14) — White 7-12 1-2 18, Thompson 9-15 12-15 33, Phillips 1-2 2-4 4, Collins 5-16 2-3 15, Kirkpatrick 2-2 0-2 4, Mukole 3-5 0-0 6, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Braimbridge 0-0 0-0 0, Riley 1-2 0-0 2, Lawrence 0-0 0-0 0, Prince 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper 0-1 0-0 0, DeCosta 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 17-26 82.

N.C A&T (5-12) — Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Porter 2-2 4-8 8, Alston 9-15 1-3 19, Joshua 3-11 0-0 6, Simpson 5-10 0-0 15, Buck 0-1 0-2 0, Hill 3-9 2-2 9, Coleman 5-7 0-2 10, Witter 3-5 0-0 8, Upchurch 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 31-62 7-17 77.

Halftime—Howard 49-37.
3-point goals—Howard 9-18 (White 3-5, Thompson 3-5, Collins 3-7, Mukole 0-1), N.C. A&T 8-28 (Simpson 5-9, Witter 2-3, Hill 1-5, Upchurch 0-1, Buck 0-1, Alston 0-3, Joshua 0-6).
Fouled out—Alston.
Rebounds—Howard 33 (Thompson 7), N.C. A&T 36 (Joshua 9).
Assists—Howard 10 (White 3), N.C. A&T 13 (Alston 5).
Total fouls—Howard 17, N.C. A&T 18.
A—4,172.