NORFOLK, Va. – Nendah Tarke led four Coppin State men's basketball players in double figures with 19 points while
DeJuan Clayton and
Koby Thomas combined for 35 points but the Eagles fell at Norfolk State, 84-72, on Sunday afternoon at the Spartans' Echols Hall. Coppin falls to 6-12 on the year with a 5-4 mark in the MEAC while NSU moves to 10-6 overall and 5-3 in league play.
Making his first start since early in the season, Tarke made 5-of-9 from the floor with a three, and 8-of-10 from the line to lead the team in scoring for the first time in his young career. A freshman from Gaithersburg, Md., Tarke also had four rebounds and a team-high three steals.
Clayton made CSU history with his first basket on the day, as he passed both
Antoine Brockington ('98) and
Larry Tucker ('03) on the all-time scoring list and now ranks fifth in school-history. Finishing with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting, Clayton also made all five of his free throws and now has 1,466 points.
A redshirt senior from Bowie, Md., Clayton also dished out seven assists, increasing his career total to 401. Clayton now joins
Tywain McKee ('09) and
Taariq Cephas ('15) as the only Eagles to record both 1,000 points and 400 assists in their careers.
Thomas also hit double figures in scoring with 17 points while
Anthony Tarke recorded 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Yuat Alok led CSU with seven rebounds and a career-high four blocks.
The Eagles led for the majority of the first half, but after
Anthony Tarke gave Coppin a 24-18 advantage at the 9:05 mark, Norfolk went on a 10-0 run to go up 28-24 with 7:35 to go. The Spartans could not extend the lead and Tarke's free throw with just under two minutes left in the half made it a 38-37 deficit, but NSU went into the break with a 43-39 lead.
After Norfolk hit a pair of buckets to open the second half, Coppin went on a 10-0 run with
Nendah Tarke capping the run with a go-ahead jumper with 16:35 remaining.
Both teams remained virtually even but the Spartans put some distance between the teams with a 6-0 spurt, giving them a 72-61 lead with just under seven minutes to go. CSU would get no closer than eight points the rest of the game.
Coppin started off hot from the field, making its first four shots and eight of its first 11, and outshot Norfolk State, 46.5% to 43.7% for the afternoon. The Spartans, however, took 28 more shots than the Eagles by outrebounding CSU, 44-28, and forcing 20 Coppin turnovers. NSU turned that into 17 second-chance points and 21 points off turnovers.
Norfolk's Devante Carter led all players with 31 points along with eight rebounds and seven assists.
The same two teams will meet on Monday, February 8 at 7 pm in a nationally televised matchup on ESPNU.
