Box Score PRINCETON, N.J. – Despite another big performance from junior Jeff Short, the Norfolk State men's basketball team was unable to overcome Princeton in the second half in a 71-61 loss on Tuesday night at Jadwin Gym.
 
The Tigers led for most of the game, but NSU was able to take a short-lived lead about six minutes into the second half. Princeton, though, hit nine 3-pointers in the game and sealed the game with free throws despite making just one bucket in the last six minutes of the contest.
 
The Spartans fell to 9-8 following their last non-conference game of the year, wasting a 25-point effort by Short. NSU outshot the Tigers overall, but a 2-of-11 effort from the 3-point line and an 11-of-24 performance from the charity stripe ultimately doomed the Spartans.
 
Short sank 10-of-17 overall but was credited with eight turnovers, half of NSU's 16 total on the night. Senior Malik Thomas and junior RaShid Gaston each added 10 points, while Gaston finished with a double-double with 12 boards.
 
Spencer Weisz had 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range, to lead Princeton (6-9). The Tigers led for almost 37 minutes.
 
They scored the first five points of the second half to open a nine-point advantage, but a pair of buckets from both Thomas and junior D'Shon Taylor allowed the Spartans to claw back. Gaston eventually capped a 14-4 run with a layup at 13:54 to give the Spartans a 41-40 advantage, their only lead of the second half.
 
The Tigers hit a pair of treys during a 9-2 run to jump ahead by eight, 54-46, with 8:13 left. Miller was left all alone under the bucket for an easy dunk to stretch the Princeton lead to 10 with six minutes to go. Short scored six straight, and a dunk by Thomas with a little less than three minutes left made it 62-57 in favor of Princeton.
 
Weisz, though, completed a 3-point play on the next possession, knocking Gaston out of the game in the process with five fouls. NSU got no closer than that prior five-point margin the rest of the way.
 
Gaston had six of NSU's first 10 points in the game and was halfway to a double-double by the second media timeout. Weisz, though, sank a trio of 3-pointers to give the Tigers a five-point lead. The last one came at the 8:31 mark, giving Princeton a 20-15 edge.
 
Short answered with a nice drive to the hoop and then a 3-point play in transition to cut the deficit to one. Weisz responded with one more trey before leaving with two fouls, but another bucket by Short and a teardrop floater by freshman Zaynah Robinson tied it up at 24-24 with four and a half minutes left.
 
Princeton only had one bucket within the last five and a half minutes of the half, but a layup by Hans Brase with five seconds to go put the Tigers up 31-27 at the break.
 
The Spartans connected on 24-of-50 for the game (48.0 percent), compared to a 21-of-54 (38.9 percent) shooting night from the Tigers. Princeton did make 9-of-25 from 3-point range and 20-of-27 from the free throw line, outscoring the Spartans by a combined 30 points from those two areas.
 
NSU outrebounded Princeton 40-34, outscored the Tigers 36-24 in points in the paint and had the big edge in blocks, 10-0. Gaston finished with four blocks, while Thomas totaled three.
 
Henry Caruso contributed 14 points, and Clay Wilson added 13 for the Tigers.
 
NSU will dive back into MEAC play with a trip to Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman beginning on Saturday against the Rattlers.