HAMPTON, Va. – Jermaine Marrow tallied 27 points for Hampton to lead the Pirates to an 82-52 win over the Norfolk State men's basketball team on Saturday evening at the HU Convocation Center.
Marrow shot 11-of-18 from the floor and added six rebounds and six assists as the Pirates led from the first basket until the end. They shot 52 percent overall and held the Spartans to 32 percent from the floor.
NSU fell to 6-4 in the MEAC and 8-17 overall. Hampton moved a half game ahead of NSU in the standings at 7-4, 12-14 overall.
Sophomore
Steven Whitley led the way for the Spartans with 14 points, while junior
Alex Long added 12 points and nine rebounds. Senior
Kyle Williams finished with 10 points, and fellow senior
Preston Bungei also had nine boards.
Hampton, however, held a sizeable advantage on the glass, 47-32.
The Pirates led right away after scoring nine of the game's first 11 points. The Spartans closed the gap to three, but Hampton went on a 14-1 run to go up by a 25-9 margin. A couple of layups by NSU ended the spurt, but Malique Trent-Street hit a pair of treys to push Hampton's lead to 31-13 with a little less than four minutes in the half.
The Pirates held the Spartans to 29 percent shooting in the first half on the way to a 35-20 lead at the break. They also outscored NSU by 15 in the second half while shooting 59 percent after the break.
Hampton then extended the advantage to 22 after scoring the first seven points of the second half. The Spartans tallied the next five, four of those from Thomas, but Marrow had 10 of the next 12 points for HU for a 24-point lead.
Williams and Whitley each had four points during a 9-3 Spartans run, but Hampton countered with a 9-2 spurt of their own. Marrow finished it with a 3-point play, and Trevond Barnes added another one a short time later. Hampton led by as much as 32 late in the game.
Barnes shot 7-of-9 overall for a 15-point night with six rebounds and three blocks. Kalin Fisher added 13 points (5-of-9 shooting), and Trent-Street finished with 11 points, six assists, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Hampton made 34-of-65 overall, including 9-of-26 from 3-point range. The Pirates outscored Norfolk State 40-28 in points in the paint and 11-4 in points off turnovers.
They also held NSU to 20-of-62 shooting, including just 3-of-17 from deep.
NSU will return to Echols Hall to host Delaware State on Monday night at 7 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
