Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State men's basketball team outscored U.Va.-Wise by 31 points in the second half on the way to an 88-49 victory on Monday night at Joseph Echols Hall.
 
Up by just eight at the half, NSU put on the jets in the second stanza, getting a combined 35 points from juniors RaShid Gaston and Jeff Short after halftime. Short ended the night with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting with eight rebounds, while Gaston tallied 20 points on 10-of-15 field goals and 14 boards.
 
The 39-point margin of victory stands as the largest in the program's Division I history, topping the 38-point win over Pfeiffer earlier this year. It stands as the largest since a 50-point, 115-65 win over Knoxville College on Jan. 29, 1996.
 
Thanks to those big nights from Short and Gaston, the Spartans had two players reach the 20-point plateau for the third time in four games.
 
Oliver Thompson led the Cavaliers with 17 points, 14 of those in the first half. The Spartans were up by as much as 13 in that first part of the contest, but Thompson drained three 3-pointers in the last three minutes of the half to cut the Spartan lead to just eight at the break, 34-26.
 
NSU had its way after intermission, though, outscoring U.Va.-Wise 20-5 over the first 5:15 of the second half. Short had 11 points during that spurt, including three 3-pointers at the beginning of the half, to push the Spartan lead to 26, 57-31.
 
The Spartans scored 10 straight points a little later to go up by 32 and the last seven points of the game for the final margin. Altogether, NSU outscored U.Va.-Wise 54-23 in the second half, the most points for the Spartans in a half since tallying 59 in the second half of a win over Stillman last year.
 
NSU hit 7-of-14 from 3-point range in the second half after connecting on just 1-of-8 in the first.
 
Gaston tied his career high with 14 boards and posted his sixth double-double in the last seven games. He helped NSU finish with a 46-26 edge on the glass.
 
For the game, the Spartans connected on 35-of-65 (53.8 percent), while holding U.Va.-Wise to 19-of-58 shooting (32.8 percent). The Cavaliers shot 10-of-33 from 3-point range.
 
NSU led by a 10-7 margin four and a half minutes into the game, but the Spartans scored eight straight and 13 of next 16 points for a 13-point lead at the 9:09 mark. Philip Owens II had back-to-back buckets for the Cavaliers to end that six-minute run by the Spartans.
 
Freshman Devonte Banner hit a trey with 3:13 left in the half for a 30-17 NSU advantage, but the Cavaliers outscored the Spartans 9-4 to close out the half.
 
Junior D'Shon Taylor scored 13 points, while freshman Jordan Butler had career highs of 12 points and five rebounds. On the night, NSU finished with a 48-14 edge in points in the paint. The Spartans also outscored U.Va.-Wise 21-4 in points off turnovers and 15-2 in fastbreak points.
 
NSU had just nine turnovers overall, compared to 17 for the Cavaliers.
 
Senior Jamel Fuentes added nine assists, six points, six rebounds and three steals.
 
NSU will stay home for the week and then host Northern Arizona this Friday at 7 p.m. at Echols Hall.