SAVANNAH, Ga. – Three players scored at least 20 points for the Norfolk State men's basketball team, and the Spartans held off Savannah State in a shootout on Monday night at Tiger Arena, 92-87.
 
A big 17-0 run in the second half broke open a game that had been back-and-forth after the teams came out of the locker room tied at 48-all. The Spartans never trailed after that spurt, and they did just enough to hold back a cold-shooting SSU squad.
 
The victory marked NSU's seventh in a row and improved its record to 11-13 overall and 8-2 in the conference. Because Morgan State was idle on Monday, the Spartans moved into sole possession of second place in the MEAC.
 
The Tigers, who dropped to 10-14 overall and 7-4 in the conference, shot just 27.7 percent on 23-of-83 shooting. That included an 11-of-58 effort from the 3-point line. The Spartans hit better than 50 percent overall, including 62 percent in the first half.
 
Junior Zaynah Robinson led the Spartans with a career-high tying 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go along with seven assists. Senior Jonathan Wade had his second straight double-double with 23 points and 13 boards. He made 10-of-13 from the free throw line.
 
In addition, junior Kyle Williams scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-10 from deep, with four assists. Aside from Williams, the rest of the team made just 3-of-18 from the 3-point line. Wade, meanwhile, was one of three players to reach double figures in rebounds, the first time NSU accomplished that feat in eight years.
 
Because the Tigers had such a large number of misses, the Spartans finished with a Division I record 60 rebounds. They broke the previous mark of 56 set in November of 2000. Juniors Jordan Butler (12) and Stavian Allen (career-high 10) also reached double figures in boards, and the duo combined for five blocks. Butler also had more than 10 rebounds for the second game in a row.
 
The Spartans had to overcome 27 turnovers in the game and 33 total fouls called just on them alone. They also had to manufacture a comeback after a big Savannah State run late in the first half swung momentum for the second period.
 
The Spartans had pulled ahead by 14 with a little more than six minutes left in the first half. Troyce Manassa, who had 20 points at the break, countered with back-to-back 3-pointers to start what eventually became a 19-5 run to close out the half for Savannah State. NSU was held scoreless for almost the last four minutes of the opening period, and Savannah State scored the last nine points to send the teams into the locker room tied at 48-48.
 
NSU had 15 turnovers in the first half alone and was unable to take a lead into the break despite shooting 62 percent compared to just 33 percent for Savannah State. The Tigers only gave the ball away two times in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The lead see-sawed back and forth early in the second half – six lead changes altogether in the first eight minutes – before NSU scored 17 straight over a more than five-minute span. That broke the game wide open, with the Spartans pulling ahead 75-60 with nine minutes left in the contest.
 
Savannah State closed the gap by scoring the next eight points in the game before Williams hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night with six minutes left. The Tigers then sliced the Spartan lead to just three thanks to a 9-1 run, with Zach Sellers sinking a 3-pointer with 3:36 left to make it 80-77.
 
Wade completed a three-point play 40 seconds later, and the teams traded free throws until junior Micah Goss made a 3-pointer from the right side with 48.3 seconds left. The Spartans led by eight at that point, and only a trey from Robert Kelly with 4.7 seconds left got the margin to within four for the Tigers.
 
Manassa finished the game with 27 points, but it took a 7-of-23 shooting night, including 3-of-14 from long range, to get there. Austin Dasent added 17 points and nine rebounds, and he and Manassa combined for 18-of-29 from the free throw line. Sellers and Casey Wells each tallied 11 points for the Tigers.
 
Savannah State committed just eight turnovers and had 16 steals on NSU's 27 giveaways. Kelly finished with 11 rebounds for SSU, which lost the rebounding battle 60-45.
 
The Spartans seized momentum early in the game when Williams hit a 3-pointer from the left side to cap an 11-2 run and put NSU ahead. After a slow start, Savannah State finally sank some shots from deep. Dasent and Wells each hit 3-pointers to momentarily give the Tigers a one-point lead with 10:18 on the clock.
 
It did not last, though, as Wade, Williams and Robinson each made 3-pointers during a 15-2 run for NSU. Robinson scored the last seven points of that run for a 35-23 advantage with 7:39 to go before the half.  The Spartan lead eventually reached 14, the largest of the opening period, at 43-29 after Williams completed a four-point play a minute and a half later.
 
That was followed by SSU's run to close out the half. The Tigers fared worse in the second period, shooting just 22.5 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from long range after the intermission.
 
For the game, the Tigers made 30-of-47 from the foul line, while NSU shot just 20-of-34 (58.8 percent). The Spartans did outscore SSU 34-20 in points in the paint and 18-8 in fastbreak points.
 
The disparity in giveaways led to a 23-13 edge for Savannah State in points off turnovers.
 
Sophomore Alex Long finished with eight points and seven boards as well for NSU, which made 32-of-62 (51.6 percent) from the floor for the evening.
 
NSU will return home to host Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall.