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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia's suffocating defense stymied the Norfolk State men's basketball team Tuesday night in a 67-56 victory over the Spartans in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Spartans hit a season-low 26.9 percent from the floor but never let Virginia get more than a 12-point lead at any point in the game. The loss finished NSU's season at 21-12, the team's second-straight year with 20 or more wins.

In the final game of his career, senior Rob Johnson led NSU with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while juniors Pendarvis Williams and Malcolm Hawkins chipped in with 16 and nine, respectively, in NSU's first-ever NIT appearance.

The Cavaliers (22-11), up 10 at the half, seemed poised to take the game over several times in the second half, going up by 11 on four separate occasions early in the second stanza. NSU, though, held firm as the game slowed down. Both teams found themselves in the bonus with 12 and a half minutes left, and neither team hit a field goal for six and a half minutes until three quick buckets by the Spartans.

A pair of free throws from junior Marese Phelps at 12:09 began an 8-0 run for NSU, and Johnson hit a fastbreak layup to cap the run and cut the Virginia lead to three, 38-35, heading toward the 10-minute mark of the half.

The Cavaliers finally ended an eight and a half minute drought from the floor with a bucket by Jontel Evans. Freshman Rashid Gaston twice cut the deficit to four after going 2-of-2 from the foul line with less than eight minutes to go, but then the Cavaliers went back up by seven, 47-40, on a 3-point play with 6:54 left on the clock.

Gaston hit two more free throws, and Hawkins tipped in his own miss at 5:37 to cut the Virginia lead to three again, 47-44. Johnson's 3-point play at the 3:26 mark got the Spartans to within four, 51-47, but the Cavaliers used an 11-3 run to finally pull away from NSU for good.

Justin Anderson and Akil Mitchell each had 15 points for Virginia, while Mitchell also completed the double-double with 11 rebounds. Joe Harris was the only other player in double figures with 12.

NSU had plenty of momentum early after scoring the first eight points of the game thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Johnson. He then hit another trey before a floater by Evans gave the Cavaliers a 14-11 lead at the 8:07 mark. Virginia finished a 7-0 run and then Williams completed a 3-point play with 4:57 to go to make it 16-14 in favor of the Cavaliers.

Virginia, though, ended the half on a 10-2 run after that to go into the break up by 10, 26-16. NSU hit just 5-of-27 in the first half (18.5 percent).

Along with Johnson, the contest also marked the last game of their careers for seniors A.J. Rogers, Kris Brown and Quasim Pugh.

The Spartans finished the game shooting 14-of-52, while the Cavaliers hit 20-of-42 (47.6 percent). Virginia also held a big advantage in points in the paint, 28-10.

NSU gained a big advantage at the free throw line, hitting efficiently from the charity stripe for the second game in a row at 22-of-28 (78.6 percent). Virginia was unable to pull away from NSU after connecting on just 22-of-37 (59.5 percent) from the foul line.