NORFOLK, Va. -- Elijah Mayes had 27 points and six assists to lead Florida A&M to an 88-78 victory over Howard on Tuesday in the first round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament.

The ninth-seeded Rattlers (9-24) will face top-seed Hampton (17-14) in a Wednesday quarterfinal.

Mayes was 8 of 13 from the field with four 3-pointers, Marcus Barham added 20 points, Desmond Williams 17 and Justin Ravenel chipped in with 14.

RJ Cole, the conference's rookie of the year, scored 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting and Charles Williams added 18 points for No. 8 seed Howard (10-23).

The game was tied at 62 before the Rattlers pulled away with a 17-5 run for a 79-67 advantage. Mayes scored nine points, including back-to-back 3-pointers, and Williams added five points during the stretch. Florida A&M closed the game hitting 9 of 10 of its free throws, and finished 29-of-35 (83 percent) shooting at the line.

HU and FAMU split during the regular season with each winning at home.