JERSEY CITY, New Jersey – Things looked bleak early on when the Norfolk State men's basketball team fell behind by double digits before even scoring its first points of the game against St. Francis Brooklyn. But in a late Friday afternoon matchup in the Barclays Center Classic, it was the Spartans who ended up pulling off the remarkable comeback.A wild finish to regulation led to an even wilder overtime ending, and the Spartans came away with a 72-70 victory at the Yanitelli Center on the campus of Saint Peter's.
All of it came after NSU (3-3) faced a 15-0 deficit to start the contest. But that Terrier lead dropped to just nine at the half and was completely erased with a little more than nine minutes left in regulation. From there, the madness ensued.
The Terriers (0-5) scored seven points in a row, while the Spartans were held scoreless for a three and a half minute span to fall behind by six. Junior Jeff Short hit a 3-pointer from the left corner and junior RaShid Gaston converted a layup to cut the St. Francis Brooklyn lead to just one, 57-56, with 3:39 left in the game.
Junior D'Shon Taylor twice sank a pair from the line, the latter with 1:25 left for a 3-point Spartan edge, 61-58. Brent Jones, though, drained a tough-angle trey from the right corner with 53.8 seconds left to tie it up. NSU came up empty on the next possession, but Jones was called for traveling in the middle of the lane to give the Spartans one last shot with seven seconds left. Short got the ball at midcourt and drove down the left side of the lane, but his off-balance layup right at the buzzer did not fall.
In overtime, Taylor got things going by sinking a pair from the line. He later hit a short floater in the middle of the lane – he had eight of NSU's nine points between the end of regulation and the start of overtime – and senior Malik Thomas got the loose-ball offensive rebound for an easy layup for a 67-64 Spartan lead at the 3:22 mark. On the very next possession, however, Antonio Jenifer answered with a 3-pointer from the right corner to tie it up.
Jones converted a traditional 3-point play with 1:02 left to put the Terriers back up by three. Short hit two free throws with 41.3 seconds left, and junior Jamel Fuentes crashed into the courtside chairs going after the inbounds pass. Before he fell out of bounds, though, Fuentes got the ball to Thomas, who drove into the middle of the lane and hit a floater from a few feet out.
Now up 71-70, NSU had to weather one last storm from the Terriers. Jones missed a trey deep beyond the left wing with 13 seconds left, and Thomas corralled the rebound and went 1-of-2 from the line. Jones got the loose ball rebound off the second shot, but Tyreek Jewel missed from the right baseline, around 15 feet out, to close out the crazy finish.
Thomas finished with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds. Short totaled 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while Gaston contributed a double-double of 14 points (6-of-8 from the floor) with 10 rebounds.
Taylor added 14 points as well, while the rest of the team scored just four.
NSU hit 54.2 percent overall for the game on 26-of-48 shooting but committed 21 turnovers. St. Francis Brooklyn also had 21 giveaways while connecting on 24-of-54 field goal attempts, including 6-of-22 from 3-point range.
Jalen Cannon finished with 23 points and nine rebounds for the Terriers.
NSU got off to a slow start, committing six fouls in the first four-plus minutes and falling behind by a 15-0 score. Short hit a short runner in the lane to end the drought at 15:27 and start an 8-0 run for the Spartans. The Terriers then scored seven straight, part of a longer 15-6 run for St. Francis Brooklyn that extended its lead to the largest of the half, 30-14, with 5:16 to go.
Taylor made a pair of free throws to cap an 8-1 run as NSU held the Terriers to without a field goal for the last five minutes of the first stanza. Short's 12-foot baseline jumper with 1:16 left cut the deficit to 33-24 going into the intermission.
Cannon had 15 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
The Spartans struck quickly early in the second half, cutting the deficit to four at 35-31 when Thomas drained the team's first 3-pointer of the game from the right wing. He hit another trey four minutes later and then a pair of free throws to make it 42-39 in favor of the Terriers at the 12:50 mark.
Gaston hit a turnaround hook shot and then found Taylor streaking down the court thirty seconds later for a fastbreak dunk to tie it up at 45-45. On NSU's next possession, Thomas drained a shot near the left elbow to finally give the Spartans their first lead of the game.
The Spartans shot 12-of-19 from the floor in the second half.
The game featured a combined 47 fouls between the two teams.
NSU will face Saint Peter's Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the championship game.
Box Score
Mike Bello, Asst. SID
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