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| CHARLES OLIVER COURTESY NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS |
Oliver shot 6-of-13 overall and 4-of-8 from long range for a career-best 22 points. Bungei hit 4-of-7 from the floor and all seven of his free throw attempts for a career-high 15-point effort. The Spartans improved to 5-7 by hitting 28-of-30 from the foul line and outrebounding the host Miners, 43-26, on their home court and in front of 7,746 fans.
NSU held the lead for nearly the entire game and advanced to play UC Irvine on Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST for the tournament title.
The Spartans shot 9-of-18 from long range and overcame a 19-11 disparity in turnovers, which the Miners (6-5) turned into a 27-13 edge in points off turnovers. UTEP also outscored NSU 28-18 in points in the paint, as the Spartans did most of their damage from the foul line and beyond the arc.
UTEP was up for just 30 seconds during the entire game, and the Miners quickly found themselves down early to start the game. Freshman Alex Long and Oliver each hit a difficult jumper as the Spartans jumped out to an 11-3 lead over the first three and a half minutes.
After the Miners scored the next seven points, sophomore Devonte Banner and Oliver sank treys to keep NSU with a six-point margin. Oliver scored nine straight points for the Spartans on three 3-pointers, all within two and a half minutes, as NSU led 25-19 at the midway point of the half.
The Spartans went nearly four minutes without a score until Bungei's 3-point play at 6:17. Still down by four at that point, the Miners finally took their first lead of the game on Lee Moore's bucket and then a trey from Omega Harris in the right corner. The Spartans responded, though, going on a 10-2 run over the next three and a half minutes for a 38-31 lead.
Wade's tip-in with 1:47 left capped that scoring, and Oliver hit a layup right before the buzzer to send NSU into the break up by a 40-35 score. Oliver had 15 in the first half to lead the Spartans.
NSU shot 14-of-28 for the half and 5-of-10 from 3-point range. The Spartans finished the game 24-of-52 (46.2 percent).
The Miners cut the Spartan lead to one early in the second half before NSU scored six of the next eight points in the game. Oliver later hit a trey from the right corner, and senior Jeff Short sank a pair from the line for a 53-46 lead with 13:24 on the clock.
Short helped push the lead to eight with two 3-pointers, the latter making it 60-52 near the midway point of the second stanza. Banner's trey a minute later with the shot clock winding down gave the Spartans a double-digit advantage for the first time in the game. Bungei helped keep it there with a pair of 3-point plays, the latter with 6:27 left.
UTEP got the crowd going by cutting the deficit to six. Two and a half minutes later, though, sophomore Jordan Butler put the Spartans up by 12, 75-63, on a reverse layup. UTEP got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Short finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, with 16 of those points coming after the intermission. Butler contributed six points, a game-high 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Thanks to NSU's rebounding edge, the Spartans outscored UTEP 17-9 in second-chance points.
Dominic Artis led UTEP with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Harris added 16 points, all in the first half. The Miners hit 9-of-28 from 3-point range (32.1 percent) and 26-of-61 overall (42.6 percent).
NSU's free throw percentage of 93.3 ranks as the fourth-best in NSU's Division I history. The Spartans shot 21-of-22 in the second half, including all 14 attempts in the last five minutes of the game.
BOX SCORE
Mike Bello, Asst. SID
COURTESY NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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