Monday
NSU at Morgan State, 7:30 p.m., Talmadge Hill Field House
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1 (Ross Gordon, Play-by-Play) | Live Audio
Live Stats | Game Notes

BALTIMORE, Md. - The second half of a trip to Baltimore will find the Norfolk State men's basketball team going up against Morgan State Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Talmadge Hill Field House. NSU will attempt to keep its perfect MEAC record intact against the Bears.

Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1, with Ross Gordon on the call. A link to a live stats feed will also be available for the game.

MEAC Standings: NSU currently sits atop the conference at 8-0 ahead of North Carolina Central (7-0) and Savannah State (6-1). Aside from Delaware State (4-2), every other school has at least three MEAC losses. The Spartans also enter the contest riding a seven-game win streak with a 13-10 overall record. Morgan State (6-12, 3-4) sits in eighth place in the conference after dropping its last two.

NSU is one of 13 schools in the country that has yet to lose a conference game this season.

Last Time Out: NSU saw an 18-point second half lead wilt down to six, but the Spartans held on to defeat Coppin State 80-70 on Saturday at the Physical Education Complex. The win moved NSU to 8-0 in the conference for the second straight year after completing the season sweep of Coppin State.

Pendarvis Williams and Malcolm Hawkins led the Spartans on Saturday. Williams had a season-high 23 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, while Hawkins added 17 points. NSU shot 51.8 percent for the game (29-of-56), while Coppin State connected on 21-of-59 (35.6 percent). Andre Armstrong added 24 points for the Eagles.

Series History: NSU won the last meeting at Joseph Echols Hall, 73-71, two weeks ago to improve to 31-11 in the all-time series with the Bears. The Spartans have won five in a row over Morgan State.

About Morgan State: The Bears fell to Hampton by two on Saturday, their third MEAC loss in the last four games. The Bears have three players averaging better than 12 points a game, led by DeWayne Jackson with 14.2 points per contest. Justin Black (13.6) and Anthony Hubbard (12.7) also provide the offense for the Bears, while Hubbard (6.8 rebounds) and Black (3.1 assists) lead in their respective categories. As a team, Morgan State shoots nearly 44 percent from the field while scoring 67 points per game.

Baltimore Battle: In each of the last three seasons, NSU has played a double overtime game against either Coppin State or Morgan State when the Spartans made the trip to Baltimore. NSU lost to Morgan State 88-87 in 2010 and then defeated Coppin State 110-108 in 2011 and Morgan State 90-80 in 2012.

Conference Streak: At 8-0 in the MEAC, NSU is assured of finishing no worse than .500 in conference play. Since moving to Division I in 1997, the Spartans have yet to finish worse than .500 in the MEAC (except for the transition 1997-98 season, when NSU didn't play a conference schedule). In fact, since the 1953-54 season, NSU has finished with a losing conference record just once (9-10 in 1990-91) in 56 seasons (not counting the independent 1997-98 and 1961-62 seasons).

Starting Strong: NSU's 8-0 starts in the MEAC the last two seasons stand as the best starts in conference play during the Division I era.

March to 1,000: Now with 961 career points, Pendarvis Williams needs just 39 more to become NSU's 30th all-time 1,000-point scorer and the fifth since Corey Lyons finished with 1,000 career points after the 2008-09 season.

Winning the Rebounding Battle: NSU out-rebounded Coppin State by 23 on Feb. 2, the biggest rebounding margin for the Spartans in a game since beating Winston-Salem State on the boards by 25 on Jan. 26, 2009 (48-23).

Making It Interesting: NSU has had a double-digit lead in the second half of all 13 wins this season, although the final margin in 10 of those wins was 10 points or less. The Spartans have won all eight of their MEAC contests by an average of 6.5 points per game despite having an average high lead of 14.0 points in the second half of those six games.

Heating Up: Pendarvis Williams has scored in double figures in 10 straight and 11 of the last 12 games. He's averaged 16.3 points, 5.3 boards and 1.5 steals and shot 47.7 percent (52-of-109) from the field and 41.3 percent (26-of-63) from 3-point range over the last 10 games.
    
Also coming up big lately have been Rob Johnson, Malcolm Hawkins and Brandon Goode. Johnson has posted 12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in the last eight games. Hawkins, meanwhile, has tallied 13.5 points on 34-of-80 field goals (42.5 percent), including 13-of-36 from 3-point land (36.1 percent), over the last eight games. Goode is averaging 11.0 points on 20-of-32 shooting (62.5 percent) with 6.0 rebounds in his last five games.

First Half on Fire: For the fourth time this season, NSU hit better than 60 percent in a half after shooting 14-of-22 (63.6 percent) against Coppin State in the second half on Feb. 2. NSU also went 15-of-24 (62.5 percent) against Navy in the first stanza, 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) against St. Francis Brooklyn in the second half and 17-of-27 (63.0 percent) in the first half against Morgan State.

NSU hit 54.5 percent against Navy for the entire game as well, 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.

Better in the 2nd: NSU is averaging 30.1 points per game in the first half but bumps that up to 36.6 points in the second half. Opponents are the same, averaging 30.2 in the first stanza but 37.8 in the second.

Good From the Line: Pendarvis Williams ranks second in the MEAC and 36th in the nation in free throw shooting at 87.3 percent. So far this year, Williams has connected on 62-of-71 attempts from the charity stripe.

The MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: Several players stand in the top 5 in the MEAC statistics, including Pendarvis Williams and Jamel Fuentes. Fuentes ranks second in assists (5.6) and fourth in assist-turnover ratio (1.8). Williams sits second in free throw percentage at 87.3, fourth in 3-point field goals per game (2.0) and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (36.0). Fuentes also sits 33rd in the nation in assists per game.

Rashid Gaston ranks third in offensive rebounds with 3.0 per game and in field goal percentage (56.4). As a team, the Spartans rank second in 3-point field goal percentage (32.6) and third in rebounding (35.8), defensive rebounding (23.3) and assist turnover ratio (0.8).

Crashing the Offensive Glass: For the entire season, Rashid Gaston has had an almost 50-50 split in terms of his offensive and defensive rebounds. So far this year, Gaston has had 60 of his 125 total rebounds on the offensive glass.