Norfolk State comes alive in second half, blows out Morgan State to win fifth straight
If Norfolk State plays in March like it did in Monday’s second half, then it won’t look foolish in hindsight if the Spartans go ahead and start sizing for rings.
For now, though, they’ll have to settle for making program history, one game at a time.
Three players scored 18 points each, and NSU turned a two-point game into a laugher in an 82-62 MEAC win over Morgan State at Echols Hall.
The victory was the fifth straight for the high-flying Spartans (14-4, 5-0 MEAC), who used a 47-29 advantage in the second half to sprint to a blowout.
“Our defensive intensity changed in the second half,” said NSU coach Robert Jones, whose team extended its best start as a Division I program. “Our offensive output kept going up. That’s the combination of how we got to a 20-point win.”
Christian Ings, Jalen Hawkins and Joe Bryant led the scoring attack for the Spartans, who shot 50% from the floor and made 11 of 25 from 3-point range.
It could’ve been an even bigger win; NSU took an 80-53 lead on three Bryant free throws with 3:04 remaining.
Lagio Grantsaan scored 14 points for the Bears (6-10, 1-3), who were held to 31.4% shooting, including 28.2% in the decisive second half.
Leading 35-33 at halftime, the Spartans scored the first 11 points of the second half. It was the start of a 21-5 run that removed all doubt by the time Kris Bankston’s alley-oop dunk gave them a 56-38 lead with 12:12 to go.
Jones theorized that his players, performing before an ESPNU audience, were victims of stage fright early on.
“For some reason, when we play a TV game in the MEAC, people start playing tentative or getting nervous or whatever,” he said. “And we’ve been playing TV games all year.”
They might want to get used to it. Already the defending league champion and the preseason MEAC No. 1, NSU is shaping up to be the prohibitive favorite when the all-important league tournament tips off at Scope in six weeks.
But there’s much work to be done between now and then, resuming Saturday at South Carolina State.
With the MEAC having contracted after some departures, Jones said its parity is at an all-time high.
“Whoever wins the regular-season crown this year is going to have to earn that thing, because there’s no nights off,” he said. “Hopefully, we’re able to do it.”
The Spartans took a 22-14 lead on a pair of Nyzaiah Chambers free throws at the 10:39 mark in the first half before Morgan State roared back.
The Bears fired off an 11-3 run to take a 25-24 lead four minutes later.
Thanks to a one-handed, alley-oop dunk in transition by Ings in the final seconds, NSU took the slim lead into halftime despite 11 turnovers.
Jones said he’s seen it before, when the TV cameras have rolled.
“I’ve been here now 15 years, and it’s like that every single year,” he said. “I just can’t understand it. They don’t get nervous when we play Wichita State.”
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com
