DOVER, Del. – Both teams suffered through an ugly first half, but the Norfolk State men's basketball team got going in the second in a 74-66 win over Delaware State on Monday night at Memorial Hall.
 
The teams combined to shoot less than 25 percent in the opening 20 minutes of play. The Spartans responded to hit better than 50 percent in the second, scoring 20 more points than they did in the first, in their last road game of the regular season.
 
NSU improved to 19-11 overall and 14-1 in the MEAC despite totaling 24 turnovers and watching the Hornets get to within three in the last six minutes of the contest. But with the win, the program secured the outright regular season title.
 
DSU (5-23, 2-13 MEAC) shot just 33 percent for the night. The Spartans held a sizeable edge on the glass, 52-31, while also shooting 28-of-38 from the free throw line. Sophomore Mastadi Pitt finished as the game's leading scorer with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
 
NSU at one point took all five of its starters out of the game early after that slow start, one in which they led just 10-7 more than nine minutes into the contest. Pitt's 3-pointer started an 8-2 run that lasted three minutes and gave them an 18-9 advantage.
 
The Hornets scored nine in a row right after that as part of a 12-2 run that gave them the lead momentarily. The Spartans, however, scored the last seven points of the half to go up 27-21. They shot just 23 percent and committed 12 turnovers but benefitted from a 13-of-16 effort from the foul line in the first half.
 
Of the 12 players to get into the game for NSU, 11 played at least 11 minutes.
 
After the Hornets scored the first five points of the second half, the Spartans went on a 13-2 run to go up by a dozen, 40-28. Pitt had seven of those points as the Spartans pushed the lead to double digits four and a half minutes into the period.
 
Freshman C.J. Kelly and junior Nic Thomas each had 3-pointers to keep the lead at least eight, although the Hornets did get to within six after a trey from Kevin Larkin and a layup off the hands of Pinky Wiley with less than 10 minutes remaining.
 
Wiley later connected on a trey a few minutes later to cut NSU's lead to 52-49. Larkin's two free throws at the 5:44 mark again got the Hornets to within three. The Spartans, however, scored the next seven points and led by at least nine until the last couple seconds of the game.
 
After getting to the free throw line several times late in the game, Thomas ended the night with 14 points and seven rebounds, shooting 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Kelly finished with 11 points, including two of the team's six 3-pointers on the night.
 
Jonathan Mitchell had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead DSU. He was one of four players in double figures for a Hornet team that also sank six 3-pointers but shot just 20-of-60 overall for the night. The Spartans finished 20-of-53 (37.7 percent).
 
Senior Armani Branch (nine points, seven rebounds), and junior Steven Whitley (eight points, seven rebounds) also made several contributions.
 
NSU will return home to host Howard on Thursday night at 8 p.m. for Senior Night.