Box Score CINCINNATI, Ohio – In a nationally televised matchup at No. 23/20 Cincinnati, the Norfolk State men's basketball team got as close as four late in the first half before the Bearcats pulled away in the second half for a 75-59 win on Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena.
 
Farad Cobb tallied 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range to lead all scorers. Gary Clark added 19 points on 9-of-11 from the floor for the Bearcats, who took a commanding lead in the second half thanks to a 16-2 run. NSU never got closer than the final margin of 16, as Cobb and Clark combined for 27 points after the break.
 
Senior D'Shon Taylor led the Spartans (4-6) with 14 points, all in the second half, on 5-of-11 shooting. He and senior Jeff Short did not score in the first half, as NSU trailed 34-26 at the break. Junior Preston Bungei picked up the scoring in the first stanza and added a career-best 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting for the game in front of 6,215 fans and plenty more on an ESPNU broadcast.
 
The Bearcats (9-2) held the Spartans to 21-of-59 shooting (35.6 percent) while shooting 26-of-57 themselves, a 45.6 percent clip. They also hit 10-of-21 from 3-point range and did their most damage on the offensive glass. Cincinnati outscored NSU 23-4 in second chance points despite have just an 11-10 edge in offensive rebounds.
 
The Bearcats scored the first 15 points of the game, and NSU finally got on the board at 14:52 on Bungei's drive to the hoop for two. Down by 15 a short time later, the Spartans scored seven of the next eight points of the game, capped by a trey from junior Jonathan Wade from the right corner, to make it 20-11 at the 10:36 mark.
 
The scoring for both teams dried up for a while, but sophomore Jordan Butler found Bungei for a nice backdoor cut to the hoop at 4:28 to slice the Bearcat lead to 28-19. That bucket also began a 9-2 run for the Spartans that cut the deficit to four at 30-26 with just a minute and a half left.
 
After that layup by senior Charles Oliver, Cincinnati scored the last four points of the half for an eight-point lead at the break. Bungei led all players with 10 points in the first stanza.
 
Cincinnati scored the first six points of the second half to push its lead back into double figures. After Taylor sank a pair of free throws at 14:45, the Bearcats went on a 16-2 run to open up a 26-point advantage and put the game out of reach. NSU went five minutes without scoring until Butler found Bungei at the 9:41 mark for the same play from the first half.
 
The Spartans got as close as 16 several times, the first when Wade drained a 3-pointer from the left wing with 4:45 left in the contest. He also hit another trey a few minutes later, and sophomore Justin Peebles-Jennings hit a 3-pointer for the first points of his career for the final margin of victory.
 
The bigger Bearcats had an 8-3 edge in blocks.
 
NSU shot 7-of-24 from 3-point range, including 6-of-14 in the second half. Wade hit three of those treys and finished with nine points for the night. The Spartans also outscored Cincinnati 13-2 in fastbreak points.
 
NSU will finish out the three-game road trip at Evansville on Thursday for an 8 p.m. EST matchup.