Box Score
NORFOLK, Va. — Junior Michael Deloach (Rocky Mount, N.C.) hit a short jumper off the glass with 30 seconds remaining in the game to give Norfolk State the lead for good, and Tony Murphy (Paterson, N.J.) went 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 21 seconds as the Spartans earned an 87-83 victory over North Carolina Central on Monday night at Echols Hall.
Murphy and Corey Lyons (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 22 points apiece to pace a season-high five players in double figures for NSU (4-8), which has won two games in a row for the first time this season.
Charles Futrell led all scorers with 34 points, and Bryan Ayala added 26 for the Eagles (1-20), who lost their 15th in a row.
NSU led by as many as 18 points in an up-tempo first half which saw the Spartans score a season-high 51 points. Murphy handed out one of his team-high five assists to Lyons (17 first-half points) for a dunk with 1:05 left in the first half, giving NSU a 49-31 lead. NCCU scored the next six points, but Brandon Monroe (Raeford, N.C.) jammed one home three seconds before the half to give the Spartans a 51-37 halftime lead.
NCCU slowly rallied in the second half behind Futrell, who scored 21 points in the final 20 minutes. The Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor (14-of-28) and 88 from the foul line (15-of-17) in the second half to get back in the game. Futrell's two free throws with 59 seconds left capped a 17-2 run and gave NCCU its first lead of the half, 81-79.
Lyons hit 1-of-2 from the line at the other end, and NCCU's J'Mell Walters was called for an offensive foul on the Eagles' next possession. Deloach then drove into the lane and scored the winning field goal.
Futrell missed a layup at the other end, and Murphy pushed NSU's lead to three, 84-81, by making two free throws with 21 seconds left. Joshua Worthy (11 points) answered with a layup to get NCCU within one, and Deloach could only convert 1-of-2 from the line at the other end, keeping the Eagles within two.
But Ayala was called for traveling on the Eagles' ensuing possession, and Murphy clinched the game by sinking two more foul shots with six seconds remaining.
Monroe scored a career-high 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and also pulled down a team-high seven boards for the Spartans. Raphael Hall (Chesapeake, Va.) came off the bench to score a season-high 11 points for NSU, and Rashid Cann (Greensboro, N.C.) added 10 points and four assists.
The Spartans, who are 1-0 in the MEAC, return to conference play when they host Coppin State at 6 p.m. Saturday.
