Box Score SAVANNAH, Ga. – A stifling defense and a couple of key 3-pointers late in the game from Pendarvis Williams lifted the Norfolk State men's basketball team to a 55-45 victory over Savannah State Saturday night in the conference opener for both teams at Tiger Arena.

NSU forced 19 Savannah State turnovers, consistently double teaming the Tiger players, and held them to less than 32 percent shooting. The Spartans improved to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the MEAC with their second straight win. The Tigers, picked to finish first in the preseason conference poll, fell to 5-4, 0-1.

Williams added a game-high 16 points for the Spartans and hit NSU's only two 3-pointers of the night a minute apart to get the Spartan advantage up to eight with a little more than five minutes to go in the game. The Tigers never threatened after that, hitting just 2-of-12 from the field in those last five minutes of the contest.

NSU, meanwhile, erased a three-point halftime deficit and outscored the Tigers by 13 in the second half. Savannah State posted just 17 points in the second stanza on 7-of-31 shooting. NSU only attempted 12 shots in the second half but made seven of them while also shooting 14-of-21 from the charity stripe.

The Spartans sank 17-of-26 from the free throw line for the game, compared to a 4-of-9 effort from the Tigers. NSU also overcame a 39-32 Savannah State advantage on the glass, including 18 offensive boards for the Tigers that led to a 15-8 edge in second-chance points.

Preston Blackman threw a high-arching pass that MEAC Preseason Player of the Year Rashad Hassan turned into a nice alley-oop dunk to start the scoring for the Tigers, who jumped out to an early 9-2 lead. The Spartans later countered with an alley-oop attempt of their own, and senior Kris Brown's subsequent layup cut the deficit to one, 9-8. Stephen Wilson's 3-pointer from the left corner gave the Tigers a five-point lead, and Hassan's shot in the lane made it 19-14 at the 11:57 mark.

Williams rattled home a 10-foot jumper from the left elbow to get NSU to within three, and two and a half minutes later junior Malcolm Hawkins converted an offensive rebound into two points to tie it at 19-all. Arnold Louis made a layup down low to break a nearly six-minute scoring drought for the Tigers with a little more than six minutes left in the half.

NSU then went scoreless for a five-minute span before freshman Rashid Gaston hit a shot down low with 3:03 left. The Tigers again went up by seven, 28-21, but senior Rob Johnson put back an easy two following an offensive board to cut the deficit to three, 28-25, heading into the half.

Wilson and Blackman led the Tigers with 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the game. NSU junior point guard Jamel Fuentes was the only other player in double figures on the night with 11.

Fuentes tied it up at 30-30 early in the second half when he banked in a shot in the lane and sank the charity stripe attempt to finish a 3-point play. Junior Brandon Goode's spin move in the lane gave the Spartans their first lead of the game with 15:41 on the clock, and NSU scored eight of first 10 points of the second half for a 33-30 lead.

Gaston twice extended the Spartan lead to five, the latter with eight minutes left when Hawkins found him alone for an easy two-handed slam. Williams pushed the Spartan advantage to eight after a pair of treys, the latter with 5:21 to go to make it 47-39.

Savannah State failed to make a field goal in nearly four minutes of play before Deven Williams hit a trey with 56 seconds to go, but it was too little too late for the Tigers at that point.

Savannah State made 18-of-57 for the game (31.6 percent), while the Spartans were efficient on their limited attempts, converting on 18-of-42 (42.9 percent) from the floor.

Louis had a game-high 10 rebounds for the Tigers.

NSU heads to South Carolina State to take on the Bulldogs Monday at 7:30 p.m.