Box Score DOVER, Del. – Up by as much as 17 in the first half, the Norfolk State men's basketball team was in good position on Saturday afternoon to come away with the victory over Delaware State. Unfortunately for the Spartans, there was still another half to play.
 
The Spartans made just 5-of-21 in the second half, and the Hornets outscored them by 15 after the intermission to hand Norfolk State a 67-64 loss in front of a nearly capacity crowd at Memorial Hall.
 
The Hornets were down by 12 to start the second half before their offense finally came alive and NSU's disappeared. Delaware State eventually led by nine before a wild finish to the contest.
 
The Spartans kept the game within two possessions for the last five minutes and got the deficit down to two with 1:11 when senior Jeff Short drained a 3-pointer from the right corner. Delaware State was called for the charge on its end, and Butler then went to the line with 23 seconds left. He sank both to tie the score at 62-62.
 
DSU's Devin Morgan had the answer, though, hitting a 3-pointer from beyond the left wing with just 5.7 seconds on the clock for a 3-point edge. The Spartans went down the court, and senior D'Shon Taylor sank a shot from the right wing with only 0.2 seconds left.
 
Taylor, though, had stepped just inside the 3-point line to avoid a defender, putting NSU down by one. Morgan made two free throws on the other end after a technical foul for the final margin.
 
With the loss, Norfolk State fell to 13-14 overall and 9-3 in conference play. The Spartans dropped back down to third place after South Carolina State won on Saturday to move to 10-3 behind league leader Hampton.
 
Delaware State got 53 of its 67 points from its bench.
 
It was certainly a tale of two halves against Delaware State (7-20, 5-7 MEAC), as the Spartans shot 50 percent in the first stanza (13-of-26) and hit four of their five 3-pointers before the break.
 
Taylor sank a couple of 3-pointers to help the Spartans build an early 10-point lead. After its scoring slowed down, NSU started right back up, using an 11-0 run to push the lead to 17, 25-8. Taylor capped that spurt with a 3-pointer from the right wing at 8:24.
 
The Hornets strung together a 10-0 run as NSU went scoreless for four and a half minutes. Up just 32-26 at that point with less than three minutes left, the Spartans scored the last six points of the half for a 38-26 lead at the break.
 
NSU, though, went almost 10 minutes before hitting its first field goal of the second half. Junior Brian Kelley finally broke that drought with a drive to the hoop at 10:17, but Delaware State had already completed a 22-4 run to start the second stanza for a 48-42 lead. Aric Dickerson responded with his third 3-pointer of the half, and Morgan drained one a minute and a half later for a 54-46 DSU lead.
 
Morgan's jumper with 6:29 left gave the Hornets their biggest lead of the game, 56-47, but a minute later Short made two from the line to make it a two possession game for the last few minutes of action.
 
Short and Taylor each scored 15 points on a combined 10-of-18 shooting, including a combined 5-of-10 from the 3-point line. The rest of the team shot just 8-of-29 overall as the Spartans finished 18-of-47 (38.3 percent) for the game.
 
Part of that 5-of-21 effort in the second half included a 1-of-11 tally from beyond the arc. The Spartans connected on just 5-of-22 for the game from long range (22.7 percent).
 
Sophomore Jordan Butler made 12-of-16 from the free throw line and finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and six blocks after tallying seven blocks in his previous game.
 
Kavon Waller led DSU with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting and seven boards. DeAndre Haywood added 15 points, and Morgan finished with 12 on 3-of-10 shooting.
 
The Hornets shot 39 percent in the first half and missed all six of their 3-point attempts. They made 7-of-13 in the second half and 14-of-26 overall after the intermission.
 
The Spartans connected on 15-of-20 from the free throw line in the second stanza, 12 more attempts than DSU, and finished 22-of-32 for the game.
 
The teams also combined for 41 turnovers, with Short posting four of the Spartans' nine steals. NSU outscored DSU 30-22 in points off turnovers.
 
NSU will host Coppin State Monday at 9 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.