Box Score
NORFOLK, Va. – Senior point guard Aleek Pauline (Far Rockaway, N.Y.) tallied 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead Norfolk State to a 72-63 exhibition win over Virginia State on Sunday afternoon at Echols Hall.
Pauline scored 12 of his points in the second half, including a clutch 3-pointer from the right wing that all but sealed the win for the Spartans.
VSU was led by former Spartan guard Brandon Plummer. The senior transfer had 17 points.
Plummer's 3-pointer from near the top of the key brought VSU within 67-63 – the Trojans' smallest deficit of the second half – with 1:48 left. But on the next possession, NSU senior wing Rob Hampton (Queens, N.Y.) penetrated and kicked out to an open Pauline, who hit his second trey of the game to give the Spartans some breathing room.
Pauline and Brandon Wheeless (Stone Mountain, Ga.) each hit free throws in the final minute to provide the final margin.
The Trojans held just one lead, at 2-1, following a basket by Plummer less than 30 seconds in. But the Spartans used a 15-2 run midway through the first half to stretch a three-point lead into a 16-point edge. The NSU bench provided much of that spark, with freshman Pendarvis Williams (Philadelphia, Pa.) and sophomore Reggie Revels (Cincinnati, Ohio) scoring four points apiece in the run.
NSU, which led 37-27 at the half, scored the first five points of the second half as Kyle O'Quinn (Jamaica, N.Y.) and Tim Zephyr (Bronx, N.Y.) each scored on a put-back and O'Quinn added a free throw. The Spartans would lead by as many as 18 points after Pauline's first triple of the game, which gave NSU a 60-42 advantage with 8:07 remaining.
But O'Quinn fouled out less than three minutes later, and the Trojans rallied by holding the Spartans to one field goal over a stretch of nearly seven minutes. But Pauline iced the game with his shot from the wing.
O'Quinn had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds and Hampton added 10 points for NSU. NSU outrebounded VSU 46-27 behind the efforts of O'Quinn and junior wing Rodney McCauley (Dallas, Texas), who had nine boards. Marcos Tamares (Queens, N.Y.) had seven points off the bench, with Williams and McCauley chipping in six apiece.
The Spartans also shot 80.6 percent from the free-throw line (25-of-31), while the Trojans made just 48.4 percent (15-of-31).
D'Angelo Johnson contributed 13 points and James Shambley 12 for the Trojans.
NSU officially opens the 2010-11 season on Friday night at Long Island University.
