BALTIMORE, Maryland -- The Norfolk State men's basketball team shut down Morgan State and got a measure of revenge in the process in a 64-53 victory over the Bears on Saturday afternoon at the Talmadge Hill Field House.
Both teams were tied for second place in the MEAC coming into the day, but the Spartans pushed ahead of MSU in the standings thanks to 16 points from senior Pendarvis Williams and a defensive effort that held the Bears to just 33 percent shooting on the day.
The victory moved NSU into sole possession of second place in the conference at 7-2 behind league leader North Carolina Central. The Spartans now stand 13-10 overall as well.
MSU (8-13, 6-3), which won the season's earlier meeting in Norfolk, was led by Justin Black with 16 points and Ian Chiles with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocks.
Sophomore RaShid Gaston added 11 points, and junior Jamel Fuentes also scored in double figures for NSU with 10.
The Spartans overcame an early deficit to start the game thanks to an extended 13-2 run in the first half. NSU never relinquished the lead the rest of the game and eventually went into the half up by five.
The Bears then cut the deficit to just two early in the second stanza, 30-28, on Chiles' putback dunk. Williams drained a 3-pointer and a 10-foot baseline jumper to put the Spartans back up by nine, 39-30, at 15:42. Fuentes later completed a 3-pointer play, and junior Kievyn Lila-St. Rose came up the court and quickly drained a trey for a 47-34 Spartan edge with less than 12 minutes to go.
The Spartans pushed their lead to the largest of the game at 15, 51-36, on a layup from Goode. Morgan State cut the lead to 10 with 4:28 left when Bozeman went in for an easy layup following an inbounds pass on the other end.
Shaquille Duncan had a pair of dunks in the last three and a half minutes of the game, getting the Bears to within eight at one point. Those two buckets, though, were the only points MSU scored over that closing stretch.
The Bears finished 19-of-57 (33.3 percent) from the field, including a paltry 2-of-22 from 3-point range. The Spartans shot 26-of-62 (41.9 percent), with all but six of those attempts coming from inside the arc.
Morgan State scored seven of the first nine points of the game, but Goode had six early points to keep NSU on pace with the Bears. The second of those baskets for the senior started a 13-2 run for the Spartans that lasted almost nine minutes and pushed their lead to 17-11, with less than nine minutes to go in the half.
Chiles finally ended that drought with a pair of free throws, but Gaston's bucket down low gave NSU an eight-point advantage, its largest of the first stanza, at 23-15. A pair of free throws from Anthony Hubbard with 9.0 seconds on the clock cut the Spartan lead to 28-23 heading into the intermission.
For the second game in a row, NSU finished with single digit turnovers, committing just eight against the Bears. Fuentes also tallied eight assists and three steals, while senior Anell Alexis added eight points and six boards.
Williams led NSU with seven boards.
The Spartans will return home to face Howard Monday night at 8 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall.
Box Score
By Mike Bello, Asst. SID
COURTESY NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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