NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) –
Norfolk State Senior guard Devante Carter totaled a career-high 31 points to lead the Spartans men’s basketball team to an 84-72 win over Coppin State on Sunday afternoon at Joseph Echols Hall.
He made 11-of-20 from the floor and 8-of-8 from the free throw line with eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals as NSU won its second straight game. The Spartans held a big advantage on the glass and overcame Coppin State’s strong shooting night to move to 5-3 in the MEAC, 10-6 overall.
Carter scored the most points by an NSU player in four years while topping his previous career best of 29 points set earlier this year against Hampton. He helped lead a defense that forced 20 Coppin State turnovers. The Spartans held a 15-2 advantage in offensive rebounds, part of a larger 44-28 edge in rebounding for the afternoon. They outscored CSU in second-chance points (17-2) and points in the paint (32-8) in addition to points off turnovers (21-10).
Aside from Carter, junior Jalen Hawkins had three of the team’s six 3-pointers for a 14-point effort with five rebounds. Junior Joe Bryant Jr. grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds and posted his first career double-double with 10 points.
Coppin State fell to 5-4 in the league and 6-12 overall, getting all but six points from just four players. Nendah Tarke totaled 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and Dejuan Clayton finished with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting with seven assists and three steals.
Koby Thomas (17 points) and Anthony Tarke (12 points, six rebounds) also reached double figures as CSU shot better than 46 percent for the game. The Eagles sank 10-of-23 from deep, eight of those makes in the first half.
They led for a decent stretch in the first half but just one time after that. Their biggest lead came at the 9:05 mark of the opening period when Anthony Tarke made 1-of-2 from the line for a 24-18 edge. The Spartans, however, scored the next 10 points as part of a 15-2 run. Hawkins made a 3-pointer and went 3-of-3 from the line, and Carter scored the last five points of the run for a 33-26 advantage with five minutes left.
The Eagles closed the gap to one late in the half before NSU went into the break up by four, 43-39.
Coppin State had the lead once in the second half, that coming after a 10-0 run near the start that made it 49-47. Tied at 51-all a short time later, back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Kashaun Hicks and Hawkins made it a six-point ballgame in favor of the Spartans. The lead fluctuated between two and six points for more than five and a half minutes until NSU pushed it to double digits thanks to free throws from Carter and junior Chris Ford.
Ahead by double figures with less than six minutes to go, the Spartans never let CSU get any closer than eight the rest of the way.
Hicks contributed eight points and six rebounds for a Spartan squad that also outscored the Eagles 20-10 in fastbreak points. NSU shot 16-of-19 from the free throw line, 15 less attempts than the Eagles had. Despite making just 6-of-23 from 3-point range (26 percent), the Spartans still shot 44 percent overall.
Carter’s 31 points were the most by a Spartan since Jonathan Wade had 31 against Bethune-Cookman on Jan. 28, 2017.
The two teams will finish out the weekend series on Monday night at 7 p.m. live on ESPNU.
This release is courtesy of NSU Athletics.