Box Score
RALEIGH, N.C. — Senior Tony Murphy (Paterson, N.J.) scored a game-high 29 points, 22 in the second half, as No. 3 Norfolk State moved into the MEAC Tournament semifinals for the third time in program history with a 69-61 win over No. 6 Florida A&M in a Thursday night quarterfinal at the RBC Center.
The win moves NSU into an 8 p.m. semifinal Friday against No. 7 Coppin State. It also gives NSU (16-14) its 16th victory of the year, a new season Division I school record, topping the previous high of 15 by the 1998-99 team.
Murphy was 7-of-13 from the floor and 12-of-12 from the free throw line to match his season-high scoring output. All 12 of his free throw attempts came in the second half.
Murphy was the only Spartan in double figures, but four others scored at least seven. Corey Lyons (Bronx, N.Y.) and Kevin Worsley (Chesapeake, Va.) had nine apiece, Joseph Dorsett-Jeffreys (Bronx, N.Y.) eight and Larry Vickers (Virginia Beach, Va.) seven.
Neither team led by more than eight points. NSU took an 18-10 lead after a jumper by Murphy with 8:57 remaining in the first half. But the Rattlers (15-17) answered with a 7-0 run, capped by a Leslie Robinson 3-pointer, to cut into the lead.
The second half was even tighter. There were six ties and four lead-changes in the final 20 minutes. Dorsett-Jeffreys hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line to give the Spartans the lead for good at 56-55 with 4:33 left. Less than a minute later, Murphy hit what was likely the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer in transition that gave the Spartans a four-point cushion.
FAMU cut its deficit to two, 61-59, on a Robinson layup with one minute left. But Murphy answered with a layup of his own at the other end, then drilled 6-of-6 from the line in the final 49 seconds to seal the win.
“It was good to see Tony step up,” NSU head coach Anthony Evans said. “He was a little stagnant in the first half, but he picked it up in the second. And when the ball goes in the basket for him, it gives him energy.”
Lamar Twitty had 19 points and Robinson 18 for FAMU, which shot just 38 percent from the floor and 27 percent from 3-point range.
“This was a great team win,” Evans said. “We got solid contributions from lots of different players, and we got some key stops on defense at the end.”
