Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Down by 14 just 10 minutes into the game, the Norfolk State men's basketball team went on a 28-6 run between the first and second halves and then held off a hot-shooting Coppin State squad in an 85-77 win on Monday night in front of an ESPNU audience at Joseph Echols Hall.
 
NSU reversed fortunes after losing a big first-half lead in a loss in its previous game, this time overcoming an early deficit thanks in part to a late run in the first half. The Spartans tied the game at halftime after facing that 14-point deficit and went up by as much as 12 in the second half.
 
Coppin State stayed in the game, getting as close as four late in the contest, thanks in part to a 9-of-19 effort from the 3-point line in the second half. The Spartans, though, scored 55 points after intermission and outrebounded the Eagles by 11 after the break.
 
Senior Jeff Short led the way for NSU with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. He made all six of his free throw attempts and also shot 5-of-12 from the field, part of a 31-of-64 effort (48.4 percent) for the Spartans in the game.
 
The win improved NSU's record to 14-14 overall and 10-3 in the MEAC. The Spartans maintained third place in the league after both Hampton and South Carolina State won on Monday night.
 
NSU hit less than 40 percent in the first half but 21-of-38 in the second (55.3 percent). The Spartans outscored CSU by a 36-8 margin in points in the paint in the second half and 46-16 overall.
 
Call it nerves or jitters or a just plain slow start, but the Spartans fell behind by a 12-3 margin to start the game. Coppin State (7-20, 5-9 MEAC) pushed its advantage to 10, 18-8, with 12:31 on the clock, and Trevon Seymore drained a 3-pointer at the 9:45 mark to give the Eagles their largest lead of the half at 24-10.
 
The Spartans finally got on track after that, going on an 18-4 run over the next six minutes to tie the score at 28-28. Five different players scored during that time, including senior Charles Oliver, who hit a 3-pointer from the left wing and then capped the run a few minutes later with a 3-point play off a fastbreak opportunity.
 
The teams went into the half tied at 30-30. Coppin State had been at 50 percent shooting in the first part of the half before finishing 12-of-31 (38.7 percent) heading into the intermission. The Spartans shot 10-of-26 (38.5 percent) before the break.
 
It continued in the second half, when the Spartans scored the first eight points out of the locker room for a 38-30 edge. Senior D'Shon Taylor and Oliver had 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions for a 49-38 lead, the first double-digit advantage for NSU in the game.
 
Junior Preston Bungei's jumper with 11:32 on the clock gave NSU a 12-point lead, and NSU still led by 12 with less than nine minutes to go when Short's bucket made it 62-50. Mufaro Murinda made three free throws in one possession and also drained two 3-pointers to keep CSU in the game. The Eagles went 5-of-5 from the charity stripe over two straight possessions, and Murinda made two more treys as CSU slowly got the deficit down to five.
 
The Spartans, though, scored 10 straight points without a miss from either the floor of the charity stripe. After a layup by junior Jonathan Wade at 2:25 with the shot clock winding down made it 77-68 in favor of NSU, the Eagles gave it one last shot, scoring seven of the game's next nine points.
 
Up by just four with less than a minute to go, the Spartans got a trio of open looks to ice the game.
 
Taylor shot 5-of-10 from the field and tallied 15 points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Both Oliver (12 points, 4-of-8 shooting) and sophomore Jordan Butler (11 points, 5-of-8 shooting) also scored in double figures. Butler also tallied two blocks and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. NSU held a 42-32 edge on the glass.
 
NSU committed just eight turnovers and held a 14-4 advantage in points off turnovers. After struggling in the first half, the Spartans also shot 11-of-12 from the charity stripe, part of an 18-of-24 effort for the game.
 
Christian Kessee led the way for Coppin State with 18 points. Murinda and Josh Treadwell each had 17 points, including 15 in the second half for Murinda. Seymore added 15 points and eight assists.
 
The Spartans will turn right around and head to Morgan State for a 7 p.m. matchup on Wednesday for the last road game of the regular season.