Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – North Carolina Central started the second half on an 11-0 run and never looked back in knocking the Norfolk State men's basketball team out of the MEAC tournament, 68-45, on Friday evening at Scope Arena.

The Spartans attempted just 39 field goals in the tournament's first semifinal game of the night, and the Eagles outscored them by 15 in the second half after leading by single digits the entire first half.

Barring a bid to a postseason tournament, NSU's season came to a close at 19-14. The Spartans fell one win short of their third straight 20-win season.

North Carolina Central (27-5) advanced to the MEAC final on Saturday.

Senior Pendarvis Williams led NSU with 12 points and was the only scorer in double figures for the Spartans. Senior Marese Phelps added nine points, while Brandon Goode, also playing the last game of his career, finished with six points and nine rebounds while tying his career-high with six blocks.

The Spartans shot 16-of-39 (41.0 percent) but committed 14 turnovers compared to just seven for the Eagles. NCCU also had a 32-22 edge on the boards, a 21-2 advantage in points off turnovers and also outscored the Spartans 14-2 in second-chance points.

The Eagles scored the first 11 points of the second half for a 19-point lead before Williams stepped back for a trey from the right wing at 15:03 for NSU's first points out of the locker room. A layup from Karamo Jawara pushed the lead up to 22 nearly the halfway point of the second stanza, and the Eagles went up by as much as 23 in the latter stages of the game.

Neither team could get much going on the offensive end in the early going. Emanuel Chapman got a kind bounce off his 3-point attempt, and senior Anell Alexis hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to tie the score at 9-9 at the 11:50 mark of the first half. Jordan Parks converted a pair of buckets for a four-point NCCU edge, and a little later Williams and Jeremy Ingram traded 3-pointers to keep the spread the same.

Ingram hit another 3-pointer for a 23-16 advantage less than three minutes later, and the Eagles twice stretched the lead to nine. The latter came with 1:50 left when Chapman hit a short floater from the right baseline. NCCU took a 32-24 lead into the half.

Ingram and Parks led NCCU with 14 points each, while Chapman (13 points) and Jawara (11) also reached double figures.

The Eagles also shot 20-of-24 from the free throw line, while the Spartans hit 9-of-14.