BALTIMORE – DeJuan Clayton scored a game-high 22 points and
Yuat Alok added a career-high 18 points as Coppin State's men's basketball team held off MEAC rival Norfolk State, 81-77, on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles are now 6-9 overall and 5-1 in league play to stand in first place in the Northern Division while the Spartans fall to 8-6 on the year and 3-3 in the MEAC.
Clayton made 6-of-10 shots from the floor with two 3-pointers and came up clutch down the stretch, making 8-of-9 free throws. Clayton also dished out nine assists to match a season-high and was credited with a pair of steals.
Alok hit 8-of-12 from the floor and showed off his range with a pair of 3-pointers on the day. A redshirt junior from Auckland, New Zealand, Alok also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.
Three other Eagles finished in double figures as
Anthony Tarke tallied 13 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal.
Koby Thomas added 12 points with seven rebounds and
Nendah Tarke chipped in with ten points and four rebounds.
Kenan Sarvan made a pair of triples for six points.
Coppin shot a whopping 70.3% of their shots from the floor in the first half and made 10-of-15 attempts from deep to take a 50-37 lead at the half. Norfolk State tied the game at 31-31 with 7:16 remaining in the period but the Eagles took flight from there, outscoring the Spartans, 19-6 the rest of the half with five-straight 3-pointers at one point. Clayton scored just before the buzzer on a fastbreak layup in the closing seconds.
It looked like Coppin would continue to pull away out of the break as Alok hit a jumper just seconds into the second, but the scrappy Spartans slowly cut into the deficit and took a 60-59 lead with 9:13 remaining after a 3-pointer by Darryl Anderson.
Clayton answered with a three-point play the old-fashioned way and fed Alok for a triple to give the Eagles a 65-61 advantage at the 8:18 mark.
NSU continued to fight and stay in the game but Clayton made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 71 seconds to seal the win for the Eagles.
For the game, CSU outshot Norfolk, 52.8% to 39.7% and made 12-of-29 shots from distance. The Eagles also made 13-of-19 free throws.
Coppin hosts Morgan State in back-to-back games on January 30-31. Both games are slated to start at approximately 3:00 pm, or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game.
