Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – What had been the formula in NSU finishing the MEAC season 16-0 finally came back to bite the Norfolk State men's basketball team on Wednesday evening against Bethune-Cookman in the quarterfinal round of the MEAC tournament at Scope Arena. The Wildcats erased a 13-point second-half deficit and prevailed in overtime over the Spartans, 70-68.

NSU had been living on the edge the entire conference season, continuously gaining double-digit second-half leads only to watch the other team fight back. No team did that better than Bethune-Cookman in the regular season meeting at Echols Hall, although NSU prevailed by one in that contest.

It was much the same in the second meeting this year with the Wildcats, as NSU took a 10-point lead into the break and went up by as much as 13 early in the second half.  Bethune-Cookman slowly chipped away at the lead but had still gotten no closer than four points with less than five minutes remaining.

Adrien Coleman scored seven straight for B-CU at one point and Malik Jackson's jumper got Bethune-Cookman to one, 59-58, with just 3:44 left. NSU seized the momentum when junior Malcolm Hawkins hit a pair of free throws and senior Rob Johnson made a fastbreak layup to put the Spartans up by five, 63-68, at the 2:51 mark.

Coleman, who finished with a double-double of 24 points and 13 rebounds, completed a 3-point play and got behind the defense for another layup to tie it up at 63-63 with 1:13 to go. Both teams had opportunities, but both squads got called for offensive fouls in the last minute. NSU turned it over with 5.3 seconds left, and Coleman's runner from the foul line was off the mark at the end of regulation.

Coleman quickly gave B-CU the lead in overtime, NSU's first overtime of the season. Johnson tied it up with a pair of free throws at 66-66, but the Spartans failed to hit a field goal the entire extra session. They finished 0-of-7 in overtime and had several good looks late in the game but did not convert.

Nevertheless, free throws kept the Spartans in it both in regulation and overtime – NSU hit 27-of-36 from the charity stripe for the game as the teams combined for 48 fouls. Junior Pendarvis Williams went 1-of-2 from the line with 7.2 seconds left to get NSU to within one, but after B-CU went 1-of-2 on the other end, the Spartans were unable to get a clean look before the shot clock expired.

The loss snapped NSU's 15-game win streak, the longest since 1989-90, and dropped NSU to 21-11 overall. B-CU improved to 14-19 on the season.

Despite the setback, the Spartans will still compete in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) after earning the league's automatic bid by winning the regular season title. NSU will find out its time and location Sunday night after the NCAA bracket is released.

Williams led NSU with 19 points, five assists and four rebounds, while senior Kris Brown (15 points, 4-of-4 3-pointers, three assists) and freshman Rashid Gaston (12 points, nine rebounds) had big games off the bench.

NSU, however, hit just 31.6 percent from the floor for the game on 18-of-57 shooting, including a 7-of-29 mark after halftime (24.1 percent).

Both teams started off slow and missed several makeable shots early in the game, but 3-pointers from Brown and Williams helped NSU get going as the first nine minutes of the half ticked away. Gaston's bucket down low put NSU up by eight, 15-7, and then Williams made it 17-10 with 9:51 to go on a baseline jumper from the right side.

Brown's third trey of the first half and a short jumper from Williams eventually extended the lead to 10, 24-14, with a little less than four minutes left in the half. After the Wildcats scored six of the next eight points in the game, NSU finished the half on a 7-3 run to go into intermission up by 10, 33-23.

Brown and Gaston each had nine points to lead the Spartans, while Coleman, Javoris Bryant and Kevin Dukes scored all 23 points for B-CU in the first stanza.

Junior Brandon Goode's 3-point play got things going for NSU early in the second half, and Johnson made it 40-27 after a fadeaway baseline jumper at 17:20. The Spartans, though, had to call timeout after Bethune-Cookman used a 7-1 run to get to within seven, 41-34.

The Wildcats cut the NSU lead to four twice, the latter at 50-46 on a bucket by Coleman. The Spartans started getting to the foul line, and Williams hit NSU's only two buckets within an 11-minute span that helped B-CU eventually get to within a single possession.

B-CU held a 47-34 edge on the glass and hit a respectable 26-of-61 overall (42.6 percent). Dukes and Paul Scotland each had 11 points for B-CU, while Alex Smith had five points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.

Johnson also scored in double figures for NSU with 10.