Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Up by 14 points in the second half, the Norfolk State men's basketball team survived a late Morgan State comeback and remained undefeated in conference play with a 73-71 victory over the Bears Monday night at Joseph Echols Hall.

NSU (11-10, 6-0) had a comfortable double-digit lead through the first part of the second half, but Morgan State (5-10, 2-2) used an 18-4 run over nearly seven minutes of play to go up by two, 57-55, with less than seven minutes to go in the game.

A pair of free throws from junior Pendarvis Williams and a shot in the lane from Malcolm Hawkins then gave NSU the lead back and snapped a 1-of-8 stretch from the floor. The Spartans twice built the lead back up to six, the latter at 1:07 when Williams hit a pair from the charity stripe.

Anthony Hubbard, though, went 4-of-4 from the foul line for Morgan State in the last minute of the game, and then NSU left Blake Bozeman wide open for a trey from the right corner with 19.6 seconds left, cutting the Spartans lead to 71-69.

After junior Jamel Fuentes went 1-of-2 from the line, Justin Black's tip-in off a 3-point miss by Hubbard made it 72-71 in favor of NSU with 4.3 seconds left. The Bears let Hawkins get behind them on the inbounds pass, and the NSU junior hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with 0.9 seconds to go. MSU's DeWayne Jackson got caught with his foot on the sideline while trying to catch the last-second heave, and NSU bled out the last 0.5 on the clock for the win.

Williams finished with a game-high 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 15 points in the second half. The duo of junior Brandon Goode (18 points, 7-of-13 shooting) and senior Rob Johnson (17 points, 8-of-14 shooting) came up big for NSU, including the early part of the first half when the Spartans grabbed the early lead and eventually went into the half up by nine.

Junior Marese Phelps added 12 points, all in the first half. As a team, NSU shot 43.3 percent on 26-of-60 shooting but received just a 1-of-15 effort outside of the top four scorers.

Morgan State was unable to capitalize on its 43-26 advantage on the boards and committed 29 turnovers on the night, the most by a Spartan opponent in almost five years. Black led the Bears with 16 points and eight boards, while Hubbard (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Jackson (11 points, six rebounds) also reached double figures.

NSU remained in first place in the MEAC ahead of 4-0 North Carolina Central.

After Shaquille Duncan's 3-point play got Morgan State on the board during the first possession of the game, NSU quickly turned up the pace on offense, outscoring the Bears 13-2 over a four and a half minute span. Johnson and Goode carried the Spartan offense for the first part of the first half, eventually getting the advantage up to eight at 21-13 with 9:22 to go on a jumper from Johnson.

Phelps provided a lift later in the first stanza, hitting a couple of key 3-pointers and a pair of layups, including a nice contested reverse layup under the basket with a much bigger defender in his face. Thanks to Phelps' scoring, the Spartans used a 14-5 run over nearly five and a half minutes to take their biggest lead so far in the game, 38-26, with a little more than a minute to go before intermission.

A 3-point play from Black and a tip-in by Tauron Bailey with just two seconds left in the half sent the Bears into the break down by a 40-31 score. Phelps and Goode had 12 points each, while Johnson added 10 in that first half.

Johnson's 3-point play early in the second half, and a dunk off an offensive rebounds by Goode gave NSU a 14-point lead on two separate occasions. Williams hit a trey with 13:16 to go for a 51-39 lead before Morgan State began its big second-half comeback.

The Bears shot better than 50 percent in the second half after NSU hit 17-of-27 (63.0 percent) in the first. MSU finished the night 25-of-52 (48.1 percent).

NSU will stay at home to host Hampton next Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Battle of the Bay.