Box Score MOREHEAD, Ky. – Jarrett Stokes hit a nearly 27-foot 3-pointer with 27.0 seconds left to propel Morehead State to a 73-67 win over the Norfolk State men's basketball team Monday night at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

Stokes had been 4-of-23 from 3-point range on the season up to that point when he hoisted what looked at the time to be an ill-advised shot. But his deep 3 from the right wing found nothing but the bottom of the net and gave the Eagles a 69-67 lead in a game that went back and forth late. The Spartans missed on a pair of 3-pointers on their next possessions, and the Eagles iced the win at the free throw line.

The Eagles overcame an eight-point deficit with eight minutes left in the game, dropping the Spartans' record to 2-5 following NSU's fourth-straight defeat. Milton Chavis recorded a double-double of 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting with 10 rebounds to improve Morehead State's record to 4-2.

The short-handed Spartans were led by junior Malcolm Hawkins with 18 points. NSU was without starting guard Pendarvis Williams, who sat out as a precaution because of injury. Morehead State was also short-handed because of the suspension of head coach Sean Woods.

The Spartans were up for most of the second half, including a 54-46 advantage with 8:11 left on the clock. The Eagles responded with a 9-0 run to take a one-point lead, marking the first of 11 lead changes in the last six minutes of play.

Hawkins and junior center Brandon Goode scored the next 11 points for NSU, and senior Rob Johnson converted a layup with 59.0 seconds left to put the Spartans up by a 67-66 advantage. Johnson missed the ensuring free throw attempt after getting foul on the make, and 32 seconds later Stokes drained his game-winning 3-pointer.

Goode had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Spartans, while Johnson stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, a team-high nine boards, six assists and four steals. Junior Jamel Fuentes posted a career-high 11 assists for the Spartans.

Maurice Lewis-Briggs nearly had a double-double as well for the Eagles with 12 points and nine rebounds. Morehead State hit 43.1 percent for the game on 25-of-58 shooting, only slightly better than NSU's 25-of-61 clip (41.0 percent).

The Spartans, though, knocked down just 2-of-15 from beyond the arc.

Senior Kris Brown converted a fastbreak bucket and hit a baseline jumper to get NSU on the board in the first couple of minutes of the game. Then, with the Eagles up 9-8 at the 14:30 mark, the teams scored at a frantic pace, combining for 14 points in just a two-minute span.

Morehead State still led by one at that point, 16-15, but the last basket of that scoring spurt started an 8-0 run that eventually put the Eagles up by a 22-15 score with 10:13 to go in the half. Hawkins drained a wide-open 3-pointer from the right wing to end the run, and the Spartans scored the next six points to cut the deficit to one.

After the Eagles went back up by seven on a 3-pointer from Chavis, Brown's 3-point play and freshman Rashid Gaston's easy fastbreak dunk made it 28-26 in favor of Morehead State with the clock ticking down to the 4:30 mark. Johnson got the steal and the quick bucket with less than a minute to go, and the teams traded free throws late in the stanza to go into the half with the Eagles up, 32-29.

Goode scored six of NSU's first eight points of the second half, including a nifty skyhook in the lane to put the Spartans back on top, 35-34. Junior Kievyn Lila-St. Rose capped a 12-2 run when he drove his defender into the middle of the lane and sank a short jumper for a 41-36 Spartan lead at the 14:52 mark.

The Eagles finally ended a three and a half minute scoring drought when Chavis made a pair of layups 10 seconds apart after the Eagles stole the inbounds pass following his first make. That second basket cut it to 47-44, but the Spartans answered with a 7-2 run, capped when Brown got hold of a tipped pass underneath the basket and sank an easy layup for a 54-46 NSU advantage. The Eagles then went on their 9-0 run to mark the start of a wild finish to the game.

Stokes and Kahlil Owens chipped in with 11 points each for the Eagles. Brown also reached double figures for NSU with 13 points.

NSU will return to Norfolk for its home opener Thursday against St. Francis (N.Y.) at 7 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall. The Spartans will unveil their 2012 MEAC Championship and NCAA tournament banners and receive their championship rings prior to the contest.