NORFOLK, Virginia -- It might not have been the prettiest of games, but in the end the Norfolk State men's basketball team inched closer to earning a potential top 2 seed next month in the MEAC tournament.
In a game that featured more than 40 fouls and 40 turnovers, the Norfolk State men's basketball team survived Howard's late push and James Daniel's clean-look, last-second 3-point attempt in a 72-69 win over the Bison on Saturday evening. In a matchup of MEAC top 3 teams at Joseph Echols Hall, the second-place Spartans put even more distance between them and the rest of the league.
The junior duo of RaShid Gaston and D'Shon Taylor tallied double-doubles to lead the Spartans. NSU improved to 16-9 overall and 9-1 in the MEAC after winning its fifth straight game, including the second in a row by a three-point margin. The Spartans also won for the seventh time in the past eight games.
NSU maintained second place in the MEAC behind North Carolina Central (10-0). Howard fell to 12-11 overall and 6-3 in conference play, although the Bison remain in third place in the league as the only other team with less than four losses.
Howard erased a 10-point first-half deficit and went into the locker room tied with NSU. The Spartans again led by double digits in the second half, 60-49, with nine minutes left in the contest. The Bison, though, did not go away, going on a 14-3 run to tie it up at 63-63 with 4:27 left. Daniel accounted for six of those points during the run, all from the free throw line, and James Carlton hit a pair of treys as well.
A pair of buckets by Gaston put the Spartans ahead by four, and Taylor, senior Malik Thomas and junior Jeff Short each went 1-of-2 from the line to push NSU's lead to 70-65 with just 14.4 seconds left. Carlton turned the ball over twice and missed a 3-pointer during that time, but Daniel sank a trey from near the right wing with 9.2 seconds to go to get the Bison to within two.
Thomas and Daniel exchanged 1-of-2 efforts from the line, and Short also made 1-of-2, with all three of those trips coming with less than 10 seconds to go. Howard inbounded the ball with 4.9 seconds left, and Daniel was able to maneuver around traffic and get a clean look from the right wing at the buzzer, to no avail.
Gaston totaled 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting with 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Taylor added 12 points and 10 rebounds, helping the Spartans finish with a 35-23 edge on the glass. Thomas tallied 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting coming off the bench.
The lead went back and forth in the early going, with neither team having more than a three-point lead to start the game until freshman Devonte Banner hit a 3-pointer with 11:07 on the clock. Up 20-15 at that point, the Spartans maintained their advantage and then scored seven straight for a 31-21 lead with less than seven minutes before the half.
The Bison, though, closed the half on a 10-3 run to tie the score at 38-38 going into the locker room.
Carlton and Marcel Boyd put Howard ahead 42-38 early in the second half, but Thomas' jumper in the lane at the 16:52 mark started a 9-0 run for the Spartans. Short finished it with a pair of free throws, as NSU found itself up 51-44. The Bison went almost seven minutes without a field goal and fell behind by 11, the largest lead of the game.
Daniel went to the line twice within a minute to shoot three foul shots each time, starting Howard's late comeback attempt.
He finished with 24 points on 4-of-14 shooting, thanks to a 12-of-15 effort from the free throw line. Carlton added 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting.
Short finished with his lowest point total in 20 games with 13, all in the second half, thanks to missing most of the first half with two fouls. Banner added a career-high eight points as well.
NSU shot 23-of-48 overall (47.9 percent) but just 4-of-16 from 3-point range. The Spartans also benefitted from the officials' whistles, as they shot 22-of-36 from the free throw line.
Howard made 22-of-51 overall (43.1 percent) and 10-of-23 from 3-point range.
NSU will host UMES Monday at 8 p.m. at Echols Hall.
Mike Bello, Asst. SID
COURTESY NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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