Saturday
NSU at UMES, 4 p.m., W.P. Hytche Athletic Center
Live Stats | Live Audio | Game Notes
NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State men's basketball team finally gets back to conference play this weekend and for the rest of the season, with UMES up first Saturday at 4 p.m. in a road contest for the Spartans at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center.
Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1, with Ross Gordon on the call. Live stats will be available for the game as well.
Last Time Out: NSU stormed out to a 22-point lead at the half and then held on after a late rally by Navy in a 74-68 victory over the Midshipmen last Saturday at Joseph Echols Hall. NSU buried nine 3-pointers in the first half and led by as many as 26 in the second half. Navy got as close as five with eight seconds left.
Pendarvis Williams scored 21 points to lead all players, while Malcolm Hawkins and Rob Johnson also reached double figures with 17 and 15, respectively. NSU shot a season-best 54.5 percent for the game, including better than 62 percent in the first half. Navy, which hit eight 3-pointers in the last 10 minutes of the game to rally back, was led by Kevin Alter's career best 18 points.
Series History: NSU leads the all-time series with UMES, 37-16. The Spartans have won 18 of the last 20 meetings dating back to the 2001-02 season.
About UMES: The Hawks have come up short in all 12 games on the season, and Saturday's matchup will mark the first home game of the season for UMES. Kyree Jones helps carry the Hawks with his team-best 16.6 points-per-game effort, although UMES has only scored a little more than 56 points a game while shooting slightly better than 35 percent from the field. Troy Snyder ranks second with 11.8 points and first overall on the team with 6.4 boards, 1.8 steals and 10 blocks. Dominique Cowell ranks first on the team with 2.3 assists.
Breaking Out of a Slump: Pendarvis Williams has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games after failing to do so in three of the previous four. He's averaged 16.3 points, 5.0 boards and shot 50 percent (24-of-48) from the field and 44.8 percent (13-of-29) from 3-point range over the last four games alone.
Also breaking out of a slump has been Rob Johnson and Malcolm Hawkins. Johnson has posted 15.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and shot 50 percent from both the field (10-of-20) and 3-point range (4-of-8) the last two games after failing to score more than eight in the previous four games.
Hawkins, meanwhile, has scored 16.0 points on 12-of-21 field goals (57.1 percent), including 6-of-10 from 3-point land (60.0 percent) in the last two games as well.
Heating Up from 3-Point Range: After failing to top 40 percent in 3-point shooting in eight of the prior nine games, NSU has now done so in three of the past four games, hitting 33-of-86 (38.4 percent) over that stretch. Included in there was a 9-of-15 effort in the first half against Navy, the most 3-pointers in a half since hitting 10 in the first half of a home game against Hampton on Feb. 28, 2009.
We're Having a Block Party: NSU had a season-high 10 blocks against Navy, the most since posting 10 against Long Island on Dec. 14, 2011. Prior to that, the last time NSU had more than 10 blocks in a game was on Jan. 5, 2005, when the Spartans set the school record with 13 at Savannah State.
First Half on Fire: NSU hit 15-of-24 (62.5 percent) in the first half against Navy, just the second time all season the Spartans connected on better than 60 percent in a half. The other came against St. Francis Brooklyn, when the Spartans shot 69.2 percent (18-of-26) in the second half.
NSU hit 54.5 percent against Navy for the entire game, the best shooting percentage since connecting on 56.8 percent (21-of-37) against Howard on March 7, 2012 in the MEAC tournament. NSU led for the entire game against the Midshipmen.
The Rebounding Edge: After getting out-rebounded by an average of 11.0 boards over the prior four games, NSU has come out on the positive side of the rebounding margin against both East Carolina (39-35) and Ball State (36-28) while tying Navy in the rebounding column (29-29).
The MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: Several players stand in the top 5 in the MEAC statistics, including Pendarvis Williams and Jamel Fuentes. Williams ranks first in free throw percentage at 89.2, and Fuentes ranks second in assists (5.8) and assist-turnover ratio (2.3). Fuentes also sits 28th in the nation in assists per game.
Rashid Gaston ranks third in offensive rebounds with 3.2 per game and fourth in shooting at 54.5 percent. Rob Johnson sits fifth in defensive rebounds (4.4), and Williams does the same in 3-point field goals per game (1.9). The Spartans rank third in 3-point field goal percentage (33.6).
March to 1,000: Now with 863 career points, Pendarvis Williams needs just 137 more to become NSU's 30th all-time 1,000-point scorer. He is on course to accomplish the feat late in the season.
