NORFOLK, Va. – Coppin State's men's basketball team fought back from a first half deficit to take the lead, but fell in the closing minutes at Norfolk State, 84-77 on Saturday night at Echols Hall. The Eagles fall to 3-15 overall and 2-1 in the MEAC while the Spartans improve to 13-4 with a 4-0 mark in league play.
Nendah Tarke led all scorers with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go with six rebounds, five assists, a block and two steals. A redshirt freshman from Gaithersburg, Md., Tarke also made three 3-pointers and 4-of-6 from the stripe.
Tyree Corbett also had a monster game with 19 points and 14 rebounds for his league-high eighth double-double of the season.
Mike Hood also finished in double figures with 12 points and both
Kyle Cardaci and
Jesse Zarzuela chipped in with five points apiece. Cardaci was credited with four steals.
Coppin shot 54.2% from the floor and 8-of-15 (53.3%) in the second half to stage a comeback and outshot Norfolk State by a narrow 41.2% to 40.9% margin for the game. The Spartans, however, made 21-of-26 (80.8%) free throws compared to 12-of-21 (57.1%) for the Eagles.
Trailing, 39-28 at the half, the trio of Tarke, Corbett and Hood took control in the opening minutes of the second half and cut the deficit to 55-53 on a layup by Cardaci with 10:05 left in regulation. Tarke and Cardaci hit threes to sandwich a NSU trifecta before a dunk by Corbett at the 6:29 mark gave CSU its first lead since the opening minutes at 61-60.
After a Spartans layup, Corbett hit a free throw and followed with a 3-pointers off an assist from Tarke, increasing the advantage to 65-62 with 5:12 remaining. The hosts then went on a 10-0 run over the next 3:48 before Tarke stopped the run with a triple, cutting the deficit to 72-68 with 1:46 left to play.
Norfolk then scored five-straight points and Coppin's late push in the final minute came up short.
Coppin returns to action on Monday, January 24 when it welcomes Howard to PEC Arena for a 7:30 pm tipoff. Fans can watch the game live on NXT LVL and listen in on WNST 1570 AM
. Click here to see where you can watch NXT LVL.
