Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Jeremy Bynum scored 27 points and drained a school-record nine of host Jacksonville State's 15 3-point field goals as the Gamecocks sent Norfolk State to its seventh straight loss, 95-78, on Tuesday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The host Gamecocks (5-4) never trailed. They shot 52 percent from 3-point range (15-of-29) with Bynum hitting 9-of-14 to spoil big games from NSU guard Michael Deloach (Rocky Mount, N.C.) and center Christian Morris (Bronx, N.Y.). Deloach scored a career-high 33 points while Morris had a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds in his first game as a Spartan.
Bynum hit a 3-pointer on the game's first possession and didn't slow down from there. Bynum hit five 3-pointers in the first half, Trenton Marshall hit all three of his, and Jay-R Strowbridge hit two of his three on the night as the Gamecocks rained down 10 triples in the opening 20 minutes. Marshall's trey with 7:12 left in the first half gave JSU its largest lead of the stanza, at 36-13.
The Spartans (1-8) scored a season-high 50 second-half points, but it was not enough to catch JSU, which led by as many as 26 points and by at least 16 during the final period. That was despite 29 second-half points from Deloach, who finished the night shooting 13-of-22 from the field and 4-of-4 from the foul line. The 33 points passes his career best of 32, set twice previously, and also moved him into 20th place on the all-time NSU scoring list. Deloach tied his season high with three 3-pointers and also notched four steals.
Morris, a Rutgers transfer playing his first game at NSU after sitting out the last two semesters per NCAA transfer rules, was 8-of-15 from the floor and grabbed nine offensive rebounds. Kyle O'Quinn (Jamaica, N.Y.) and Isaac Nixon (Raleigh, N.C.) added eight points apiece for the Spartans.
Marshall and Nick Murphy scored 16 apiece and Strowbridge had 13 for the Gamecocks. Amadou Mbodji had 12 rebounds and Marshall 10 for JSU, which became the third team this season to score at least 90 points on the Spartans, all coming in the last five games.
The Spartans have 13 days off for the holidays before returning to action on Dec. 28-29 at the Sun Bowl Invitational in El Paso, Texas.
