Box Score DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A big 19-2 run in the latter stages of the game allowed the Norfolk State men's basketball team to pull away from Bethune-Cookman in a 79-55 win on Monday night in a conference matchup at Moore Gymnasium.
 
Junior D'Shon Taylor broke out of a slump in a big way for the Spartans, finishing with a career-high 25 points to keep NSU perfect in MEAC play at 4-0, 11-8 overall. He scored 19 in the second half, including 11 points during that spurt, after the Spartans led by 11 at the break.
 
NSU won its second in a row and made it a clean sweep, along with the Spartan women, of the MEAC's Florida schools after both teams defeated Florida A&M on Saturday. It marked the first time ever both teams swept B-CU and FAMU in the same trip.
 
The Spartans' 3-point shooting was big against the Wildcats, as they finished 11-of-23 from long range, tying their season high for treys in a game. NSU hit 52 percent overall on 26-of-50 shooting while holding B-CU to 19-of-54 from the floor (35.2 percent).
 
Taylor shot 5-of-10 from 3-point range and scored in double figures for the first time in four games. Junior Jeff Short sank a pair of treys and hit 6-of-11 overall for 18 points. Junior RaShid Gaston added 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting with nine boards and a career-high tying four assists.
 
Ricky Johnson had 17 points to lead the Wildcats (4-13 overall, 0-3 MEAC). Quentin Brewer joined him in double figures with 13 points and eight boards.
 
NSU maintained first place in the MEAC along with North Carolina Central and Hampton, who also won on Monday to go to 4-0.
 
Short and Johnson traded 3-pointers to keep the NSU lead at nine early in the second half. The Spartans extended their advantage to 50-36 when Taylor sank a trey from the right wing with 13:21 on the clock. Then up 57-47 with a little less than nine and a half minutes left, NSU went on that 19-2 run over the next seven minutes to open up a 27-point advantage.
 
Mikel Trapp drained a pair of treys for Bethune-Cookman, but the Spartans never looked back, finishing 13-of-22 from the floor in the second half alone. The victory was NSU's biggest ever against the Wildcats in 29 all-time meetings.
 
Turnovers hurt the Spartans early in the game, and the Wildcats were able to go ahead by eight, 18-10, after a pair of free throws by Brewer at the 12:02 mark. The Spartans answered with a 12-0 run, capped by a fastbreak dunk by senior Malik Thomas after he scooped up a loose ball in the backcourt.
 
NSU opened up a 30-23 advantage following a Gaston layup with five and a half minutes to go. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Short and Thomas then extended NSU's lead to double-digits, 36-25, with less than four minutes before the half.
 
The Spartans led by as much as 13 after freshman Zaynah Robinson drained a trey with less than a minute to go, and they went into the break up by a 41-30 margin.
 
The Wildcats hit 6-of-21 from 3-point range but did a good job on the glass, as the teams finished dead-even at 35-35 in rebounding.
 
Thomas added seven points, six boards and a career-high five blocks. The Spartans also finished with a season-tying low eight turnovers.
 
NSU will return home following this six game road stretch with a Saturday contest against defending MEAC champion North Carolina Central at 6 p.m.