NORFOLK, Va. – Jalen Hawkins led four Norfolk State players in double figures and the Spartans held off a pesky Maryland Eastern Shore team for a 70-63 win on Saturday before a season-best crowd of 3,278 fans at Echols Hall.

Joe Bryant Jr. added 14 points to surpass the 1,000 career points plateau, Dana Tate Jr. scored 11 and Christian Ings 10 for NSU (16-5, 7-1), which was playing its first game in 12 days.

The Spartans missed their first four shots from the field as the Hawks (8-11, 3-5) took a slim early lead. Three-pointers by Bryant and Daryl Anderson plus another jumper from Bryant keyed an 8-0 NSU run that helped the Spartans edge in front at 19-16.

Neither team led by more than five in a tight first half, but NSU gained a measure of momentum just before the break when Bryant notched a steal and Tate drilled a 3-pointer for a 30-26 Spartan lead at the intermission. There were seven lead-changes in the first half

Back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half by Hawkins and Ings pushed NSU's lead to double digits for the first time, at 44-34. A short time later, Hawkins hit a short jumper to give the Spartans their biggest lead at 48-37. Bryant hit two free throws with 11:54 left to hit the 1,000 point mark, the 38th player in NSU history to do so.

The Hawks did not go away, keeping their deficit at a workable margin. They cut the lead to as little as three, 62-59, on a Chace David layup with 3:26 remaining.

After the teams alternated buckets, Bryant drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to push NSU's edge to 67-61 with 2:11 remaining. MDES scored just once more, and Tate and Ings combined to hit 3-of-4 from the free-throw line in the final minute to clinch the win.

Hawkins led all players with a career-high nine rebounds. Bryant had seven and Kris Bankston snared six. Bankston and Bryant both also blocked a pair of shots while Bryant led the Spartans with four assists.

NSU shot 51 percent from the floor and held the Hawks to 39 percent.

Zion Styles paced MDES with 14 points.

The Spartans hit the road for their next three games, starting with a 7:30 p.m. matchup Monday at Delaware State.