Box Score DOVER, Del. – A last-second heave by A.J. Thomas fell short, and the Norfolk State men's basketball team survived at Delaware State, 58-56, Monday night at Memorial Hall.

The Spartans seemed to be in control with less than a minute to go, holding a five-point lead after senior Malcolm Hawkins hit a pair of free throws with 21.1 seconds left. The crowd began to leave prematurely, though, as Thomas quickly went down the court and scored on a layup to cut the deficit to three.

Coming out of a timeout, NSU turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, and Kendall Gray's putback dunk had NSU on the ropes up 57-56 with just 10.2 seconds to go. Hawkins was fouled with 6.7 seconds left, and after making his 24th-straight free throw, he missed the second attempt, giving DSU a chance to tie or win at the buzzer.

Thomas went down the court and threw up a prayer 30 feet out on the left wing, but his shot clanked off the back iron to keep NSU undefeated in conference play.

In a gym that has not been kind to the Spartans over the years, they improved to 10-7 overall and 4-0 in the MEAC. NSU won its 23rd straight regular season conference game in the process and the second straight at Memorial Hall after dropping the previous seven.

It was a back and forth second half on the night. NSU took the biggest lead of the stanza at six after scoring three straight buckets in the first minute and a half after intermission. After the Hornets called timeout, they answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and a pair of close-range shots by Gray to give them a 40-37 lead at 13:32.

He had three more buckets as the teams continued to fight for the lead before a 3-point play by senior Anell Alexis put NSU up 53-48 with five and a half minutes left.

Casey Walker's trey with a little more than three minutes to go cut the NSU lead to two. The Spartans failed to score for nearly five minutes before Hawkins hit a pair of free throws with 49.4 seconds on the clock. He added two more 30 seconds later before the Hornets fell short in their comeback attempt.

Junior Jamel Fuentes led NSU with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting with six rebounds and five assists. Senior Pendarvis Williams was the only other Spartan player in double figures with 11 points and six boards.

Gray had a solid game with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Tyshawn Bell added 11 points.

The Spartan offense started off slow, as Bell's 3-pointer gave DSU a 12-5 six and a half minutes into the game. Down 14-7, the Spartans used a 10-2 run to momentarily take their first lead of the game before Gray grabbed it back on a 3-point play.

Williams hit a pair of treys in the latter stages of the first stanza and went 1-of-2 from the free throw line with 6.8 seconds left to send the teams into the locker room tied at 28-28.

Hawkins scored eight points in the second half, including a 6-of-7 effort from the free throw line. NSU took twice as many attempts from the charity stripe as DSU (22-11).

Senior Brandon Goode added seven points and a team-high nine rebounds to help the Spartans finish with a 28-16 edge in points in the paint and 21-13 in second-chance points.

NSU only turned the ball over nine times but shot just 19-of-48 (39.6 percent). Delaware State did not shoot much better, hitting 21-of-52 (40.4 percent), including a 6-of-21 effort from the 3-point line a game after failing to hit one against Hampton on Saturday.

The Spartans will return home next Saturday to face Morgan State at Joseph Echols Hall at 6 p.m.