LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Koby Thomas had 16 points in Robert Morris' big second half in a sloppy 75-53 win over the Norfolk State men's basketball team on Friday afternoon at Little Rock's Jack Stephens Center.
 
The third of four games for NSU in the Grand Canyon Classic saw the Spartans trim a 13-point first-half deficit down to six at the break. The Colonials came out of the locker room on a big spurt that pushed their lead close to 20. The teams traded runs after that point as RMU ultimately outscored the Spartans 44-28 after intermission.
 
Thomas had 21 points altogether on 9-of-10 shooting and hit three of RMU's 10 3-pointers on the days. Leondre Washington tallied 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting with five assists, while Dachon Burke added 15 points on 6-of-9 field goals with five assists for the Colonials (2-3).
 
Washington also drained three treys as RMU sank 10-of-27 from deep for the game. The Colonials shot 48 percent overall, including 53 percent in the second half.
 
The Spartans had 26 turnovers in the game, while Robert Morris could only fare a little better with 20. NSU had just seven more attempts at the free throw line despite RMU having twice as many fouls (24-12).
 
Junior Alex Long and sophomore Nic Thomas each had 12 points to pace NSU (0-5), with Long hitting 6-of-10 from the field.
 
Thomas scored the last six points of the half for the Spartans to make it a 31-25 game at the break in what was a slow first stanza for both teams. RMU led by as much as 13 in the opening period.
 
The Colonials started the second stanza on a 16-4 run to push their lead to 47-29 a little more than six minutes into the half. The Spartans countered by starting an 11-3 run, with Thomas' putback making it 50-40 with a little more than 10 minutes remaining. Burke, though, completed a 3-point play on a fastbreak attempt as RMU scored 11 straight to get the lead past 20.
 
Thomas made a pair of free throws at the 5:54 mark to cap a short 7-0 run for the Spartans. But with the score now 61-47, RMU converted three straight buckets. Norfolk State, meanwhile, made just one field goal in the last six minutes of the game, a 3-pointer by junior Derrik Jamerson Jr. with less than 20 seconds to go.
 
The first half started off slow for both teams as the score was just 12-11 in favor of the Colonials halfway through the period. After NSU senior Kyle Williams sank a trey from the right side 11 minutes into the contest to cut the deficit to 15-14, Robert Morris scored 10 straight to open up a 25-14 advantage. The Colonials led by as much as 13 at 28-15 before the Spartans cut it to six at the break.
 
Jamerson scored eight points, while senior Dan Robinson added seven with a game-high seven boards. RMU, however, held a 36-25 edge on the glass.
 
The Spartans converted 18-of-44 from the floor (40.9 percent), including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.
 
NSU closes out the tournament against this weekend's host, Little Rock, on Sunday at 4 p.m.