WASHINGTON -- Freshman Dejuan Clayton scored 23 of his career-high 28 points in the second half and Coppin State erased an 18-point first-half deficit to beat Howard 81-72 on Monday night.

Howard opened the game by scoring the first nine points and had a 16-3 lead at the first media timeout. It was 23-5 by the second media break but the Eagles used a 27-10 spurt over the last 12 minutes to pull to 33-32. Chas Brown gave the Eagles their first lead at 34-33.

Coppin State went on a 7-0 run -- with five points from Clayton and capped by a Keith Shivers dunk -- for a 65-57 lead with 4:55 to go.

Shivers finished with 15 points for Coppin State (5-15, 4-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference). Tre' Thomas scored 13 and Brown 10.

Charles Williams scored 18 points of his 26 points in the first half to help Howard (4-14, 1-2) build a 33-32 lead.