Saturday
NSU vs. Morgan State, 6 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Live Stats | Live Video/Audio | Game Notes
Radio: Hot 91.1 FM

NORFOLK, Va. - Back at home after a weekend sweep of UMES and Delaware State, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will welcome the two MEAC Baltimore schools to town. First up is a 6 p.m. tilt on Saturday against Morgan State at Joseph Echols Hall.

Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM with Ross Gordon on the call. Fans can also listen to the game and watch the live video stream at the same time with the Spartan Showcase Video Streaming portal. Live stats will be available as well here.

Series History: NSU has a big edge in the all-time series with Morgan State, 32-11, that first began during the 1959-60 season. After Morgan State won four in a row over a two-season span, the Spartans won have the last six, twice a year for the past three seasons. Only once in the last eight meetings has a game been decided by more than 10 points.

About Morgan State: The Bears have played a demanding non-conference schedule this year, leading to their current 4-10 overall record. Included in those wins are both MEAC games they've played this year, an 87-58 victory over Howard and a 73-56 triumph against South Carolina State. Justin Black leads the way with 18.0 points per game. Ian Chiles adds 14.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks, and Anthony Hubbard has tallied 10.9 points and 6.4 boards per contest. No other player averages more than 6 points a game. The Bears do not shoot well from 3-point range, hitting just 26.9 percent on the season, or the charity stripe, at 57.7 percent. Morgan State does, however, commit nearly four less turnovers a game than its opponent.

Last Time Out: Malcolm Hawkins hit 5-of-6 free throws in the last minute of play, and NSU survived a late upset bid by Delaware State in a 58-56 win at Memorial Hall on Monday. The Hornets were down by five with less than 20 seconds to go, but back-to-back baskets, the second one coming off an NSU turnover, to trim the lead to one. After Hawkins went 1-of-2 from the line, DSU's last-second heave from 30 feet out hit off the back of the rim. Jamel Fuentes led the Spartans with 14 points to go with six rebounds and five assists, while Pendarvis Williams added 11 points and six boards.

Conference Win Streak: A setback against Delaware State on Feb. 15, 2012 at Joseph Echols Hall was the last time the Spartans lost a regular season conference game. NSU has won 23 in a row, which includes last year's 16-0 record. The Spartans currently rank first in the nation for the longest active conference regular season win streak. NSU is 33-3 in MEAC play since the start of the 2011-12 season.

The school's all-time record of consecutive regular season conference wins is 24, set from Dec. 7, 1970-Dec. 15, 1971 in the CIAA. The Spartans also won 22 in a row in the mid-1950's during their days in the EIAC.

Back in the Fold: RaShid Gaston competed in his first game in nearly two months when he played 20 minutes and totaled four points and two rebounds at Delaware State. He missed 13 games due to a torn meniscus and a partial tear of his ACL in his left knee suffered during practice on Nov. 17. Zieyik Estime, meanwhile, missed the last three games due to an ankle sprain.

Senior Leadership: NSU has scored 1,324 points this year, with 1096 of those points (82.8 percent) coming from NSU's eight-player senior class.

Don't Foul 'Em: Malcolm Hawkins and Pendarvis Williams have been on fire from the charity stripe lately. Hawkins has hit 41-of-45 from the free throw line over his last nine games, while Williams has connected on 36-of-40 in the last 10 games. Hawkins had made 24 straight free throws before a miss at DSU, while Williams was 8-of-8 at UMES, including 4-of-4 in the last 20 seconds of the game. Hawkins hit 5-of-6 in the last minute at DSU.

As a team, the Spartans are connecting on 72.4 percent from the foul line this year. Only once in the previous 30 years has NSU hit better than 70 percent from the free throw line in a season (72.0 percent, 2003-04). The all-time program record is 72.3 percent set in 1968-69.

Hawkins (83.2 percent) and Williams (83.0) are also threatening the program's individual Division I record of 83.3 set by Ryan Grier in 2003-04. The all-time NSU record is 85.6 percent set by David Donerlson in 1991-92.

Rare Company: Pendarvis Williams is one of six all-time NSU players with at least 1,000 points, 400 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals along with Ralph Tally, Barry Mitchell, Chakowby Hicks, Tony Murphy and Michael Deloach. Williams needs 45 more rebounds to reach 500 for his career, and 14 more points to get to 1,400. Should he accomplish both, he will join Tally and Mitchell as the only players to reach 1,400 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals.

Dominating the Inside: Norfolk State has outscored opponents 632-473 in points in the paint, an average of 9.4 points per game. Against East Carolina, the Spartans had a 50-16 edge in points in the paint, and against Stillman that margin was 62-26. On the flip side, opponents have taken 102 more 3-pointers than NSU this year.

The Hawk: Senior Malcolm Hawkins has scored in double figures in every full game he's played this year (He played only the second half at Delaware State). He had his fifth 20-point game of the year against Seattle with 22 points. His 16.8 per-game average currently ranks as the seventh-best in the Division I era (1997-Present) behind three players - Michael Deloach, Damian Woolfolk and Tony Murphy - who each became 1,700 career point scorers at NSU.

Taking Care of the Ball: NSU has had fewer turnovers than its opponent in 10 of the last 14 games.

Increased Production: Brandon Goode has tallied 12.5 points on 21-of-31 field goals in his last four games and has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 13.

Starting guard Jamel Fuentes has tallied 10.7 points on 11-of-20 shooting with 4.0 rebounds and 5.8 assists in the last three games. He has also had at least four assists in the last nine games. Marist transfer Anell Alexis, meanwhile, has posted 11.7 points on 14-of-24 shooting in the last three games as well.

Backup point guard Marese Phelps averaged 6.0 points over a five-game stretch from Dec. 19-Jan. 11. After scoring just six points all year, Kievyn Lila-St. Rose added a career-high 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting at UMES when NSU was down to just nine active players.

Hot Shooting: Thanks to a 35-of-53 effort over a five-game stretch from Nov. 26-Dec. 15, Pendarvis Williams is now currently shooting 50.0 percent (97-of-194) from the floor this year, including 62.3 percent (66-of-106) from inside the arc.

Brandon Goode, Riley Maye, and Anell Alexis meanwhile, have combined to hit 183-of-314 (58.3 percent) from the floor this year. Maye and Alexis have hit a combined 19-of-43 (44.2 percent) from 3-point range as well.

As a team, the Spartans are shooting 48.8 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent from 3-point range this year, the best marks in a season since 1994-95 (49.5 percent) and 1998-99 (35.7 percent), respectively.

MEAC Rankings: Several NSU players rank in the top 5 in the league, including Malcolm Hawkins (5th - 16.8 points, 83.2 free throw percentage, 40.0 3-point field goal percentage), Brandon Goode (2nd - 61.5 field goal percentage; 3rd - 7.0 rebounds; 5th - 2.6 blocks, 2.6 offensive rebounds), Jamel Fuentes (1st - 2.9 assist-turnover ratio; 2nd - 5.5 assists) and Pendarvis Williams (5th - 33.5 minutes).

As a team, NSU ranks first in scoring offense (79.1), field goal percentage (49.3), 3-point field goal percentage (35.9), opponent rebounding (32.5), assists (14.8) and assist-turnover ratio (1.2). The Spartans also stand second in scoring margin (+1.6) and third in free throw percentage (71.8), rebounding margin (2.1), offensive rebound percentage (36.5) and defensive rebound percentage (66.2).

Hot Hands: Jamel Fuentes has a 52-15 assist-turnover ratio over the last eight games. During a seven-game stretch from Nov. 19-Dec. 15, Pendarvis Williams posted 23 assists to just five turnovers.

Nationally Ranked: The Spartans ranked 11th in the nation in field goal percentage at 49.3 prior to Monday's game. They also stood in the top 65 in scoring offense (41st, 79.1) and assists per game (65th, 14.8).

Jamel Fuentes ranked 33rd in the nation in assist-turnover ratio at 2.93 and 37th in assists at 5.5. Brandon Goode stood 37th as well in blocks per game at 2.56.

Pendarvis Williams also ranked 46th among active players with 185 career 3-pointers and 47th with 1,375 career points.

Beginning the Climb: Sitting at No. 21 right now in the all-time scoring list at NSU with 1,386, Pendarvis Williams needs 18 more points to reach 20th all-time (See table Page 3). From there he would need more than 130 points to get to the next spot.

Jamel Fuentes now has 344 career assists, which ranks eighth all-time at NSU. He needs 15 more to reach seventh place.