Box Score HAMPTON, Va. – A big run late in the first half erased a double-digit deficit, and the Norfolk State men's basketball team was able to come away with an 80-69 win over rival Hampton on Thursday night in the Battle of the Bay. The victory in the regular season finale secured the No. 2 seed for the Spartans in next week's MEAC tournament.
 
Coming into the contest at the HU Convocation Center, the Spartans knew they had to win to take the second seed and get the favorable Wednesday-Friday-Saturday potential path to the tournament championship game. After a slow start, the Spartans did just that.
 
It began with junior Jeff Short, who scored 17 points in the first stanza, including 14 during a 24-6 run that closed out the half. He finished with 26 points on the night thanks to 9-of-14 shooting. He had his highest scoring output in 11 games.
 
The Spartans also got a big contribution from junior RaShid Gaston, who hit 9-of-15 from the floor for 22 points to go with 12 rebounds. He finished with his 17^th double-double of the season and the fourth straight while also posting his 11^th straight double-figuring scoring game.
 
As the second seed, NSU will now play at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the MEAC tournament at Scope Arena. The Spartans will face the winner of the South Carolina State-North Carolina A&T first-round contest.
 
The victory pushed NSU's record to 19-12 overall and 12-4 in conference play. The Spartans are now tied for the third-most overall wins in a season in the Division I era and finished with the third-best MEAC record in 17 seasons.
 
They also swept the season series against Hampton, marking the eighth year in a row one school swept the other in the regular season.
 
The Pirates (12-17, 8-8 MEAC) were led by Dwight Meikle, who tallied 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting with eight rebounds.
 
Meikle was also responsible for Hampton's big lead to start the game. He scored every one of Hampton's points during an initial 11-5 run. After senior Malik Thomas completed a 3-point play to cut the HU lead to 13-10 at 15:03, Meikle hit two more 3-pointers during a 10-2 Hampton spurt to push the lead to 11, 23-12, with 11:56 on the clock.
 
He had to go to the bench a minute later, though, when he picked up his second foul of the half. The Spartan offense, and more specifically Short, took over from there. Short scored 11 points during a 16-2 run that put NSU back in the lead. He finished with 17 points in the half as the Spartans outscored the Pirates 24-6 over the last 11:47 of the first stanza.
 
That included Hampton not hitting a single field goal over the last 10 and a half minutes. The Pirates scored just four points during that time thanks to four free throws from Jervon Pressley.
 
Freshman Zaynah Robinson drained a 3-pointer right before the buzzer to send NSU into the locker room ahead 36-29. Meikle tied Short with 17 points before intermission.
 
Robinson ended up with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 10 points in the second half. He played 17 minutes after halftime due to foul trouble from starting point guard Jamel Fuentes.
 
Early in the second half, the Spartans increased their lead to 12 at 47-35 when freshman Jordan Butler found Gaston for an over-the-top layup at the 16:33 mark. Hampton answered with an 11-2 run, including a pair of 3-pointers by Reginald Johnson, to make it 49-46 in favor of NSU.
 
A bucket from Deron Powers a couple minutes later cut the margin to just two. The Spartans had the answer, as junior D'Shon Taylor hit an off-balance jump shot in the lane at the 8:47 mark to cap a 10-2 run and get the lead back to 10.
 
Powers later cut the Spartan lead to five with less than six minutes remaining. Gaston answered with a bucket of his own, and only one more time during the rest of the game was Hampton able to make it a two-possession game.
 
NSU shot an even 50 percent for the game on 29-of-58 field goal attempts, including almost 60 percent in the second half alone. Hampton hit 23-of-56 (41.1 percent) overall, and both teams also finished with identical 17-of-26 efforts from the free throw line.