Men’s Hoops Drops First Place Battle to Norfolk State

BALTIMORE – Dejuan Clayton scored a game-high 23 but it was not enough to overcome a hot-shooting Norfolk State team as the Eagles fell, 80-66, on Saturday at PEC Arena.

The Basics

• Final Score: Coppin State 66, Norfolk State 80
• Records: Coppin State 2-16 (2-1 MEAC) / Norfolk State 8-10 (3-0 MEAC)
• Location: Baltimore, Md. (PEC Arena)
• Series History: Norfolk State Leads, 31-11

How It Happened
First Half 

• Lamar Morgan put Coppin on the board with a three at the 16:48 mark after it fell behind, 5-0 but the Spartans slowly built up its lead to 24-12 when Nic Thomas made a three with 9:0 remaining.
• Nigel Marshall provided a spark off the bench as he buried a three and then converted on an and-one to cut the deficit in half with 6:28 to go.
• After a miss by Norfolk, Dejuan Clayton drove in for a layup and Marshall hit another three to make it a 24-23 ballgame.
• Six-straight Spartans points upped the lead back to 30-23 with 2:15 remaining and Norfolk went into the break with a 36-27 lead.

 Second Half 

• Norfolk started the second half on an 11-4 run to increase its advantage to 47-31 at the under 16 media timeout.
• Coppin was able to pull within 11 a couple times in the second half but Norfolk shot 60% from the field in the period to prevent a comeback.

Inside the Numbers 

• Dejuan Clayton finished with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting while making all eight of his free throws.  It was the third-straight game that Clayton scored 23 points, and once again, 14 of his points came in the second period.
• Lamar Morgan added 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Nigel Marshall also finished in double figures with ten points, nine of which came in the first half.
• Cedric Council and Chad Andrews-Fulton chipped in with eight points apiece as Council also provided six rebounds, two blocks and three steals.
• Five Spartans finished I double figures with Jordan Butler and Steven Whitley scored 14 points each.  Butler finished a rebound short of a double-double.
• Derrik Jamerson notched a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Nic Thomas also scored 13 points and Alex Long added 12.  Mastadi Pitt dished out seven assists.
• Norfolk outshot Coppin, 52.8% to 44.7% and made 60% of its shots in the second half. 

Who's Next?

• Coppin State is back in action when it hosts South Carolina State on Monday, January 14 in a 7:30 MEAC tipoff.