NORFOLK, Va. – In a tied game with one minute remaining, the North Carolina Central University men's basketball team fell 80-74 at Norfolk State University on Monday night. The Eagles were led by sophomore Po'Boigh King with 18 points and five rebounds and senior Fred Cleveland Jr. who tied the game 74-74 in the final minute.
NCCU (13-11, 5-4 MEAC) came into Monday's contest looking to bounce back from a loss on Saturday at Howard University. NC Central lost its share of first place with the loss but a win at NSU would've tied them back up with the Spartans atop the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Eagles came out with energy and scored the first seven points of the game.
Norfolk State (17-9, 7-2 MEAC) created a run of their own, scoring five straight before a layup from King ended the run. Both teams went close to three minutes without points as the score was stuck at 13-9 with NCCU leading.
A fastbreak layup from sophomore Josh Smith ended the drought with under 10 minutes left in the half. The Eagles scored nine fastbreak points in the half and didn't allow any from the Spartans.
Along with Smith, junior Kye Dickson would come off the bench to score. Senior Ja'Darius Harris passed a dime to Dickson to extend the lead. The Eagles were up 19-13 at the eight-minute media timeout.
NC Central extended the lead to nine on two different occasions in the first half with Norfolk State finding a way to keep it out of double digits. Down five, NSU's Jamarii Thomas' free throws made it a three-point game with 30 seconds left in the half.
Fouled with one second left in the half, Cleveland went one-of-one making the score 30-26 with NC Central ahead.
King and Smith each had eight points to lead the Eagles. NCCU had a 14-8 advantage in the paint and scored nine points off five turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
To begin the second half, both teams turned the ball over. Norfolk State's Thomas who leads the MEAC in scoring cashed in the first field goal. Another Spartan, Tyrel Bladen, made a layup tying the game for the first time at 30-30.
An and-one opportunity from NSU's Thomas gave the Spartans their first lead, but King came right back with a three-pointer to tie the game again 33-33.
Three points each from Cleveland and Adedire pushed the lead back in favor of the Eagles 39-36. King would also gain the hot hand knocking down two threes in a row.
Both teams would trade buckets as the game tied two more times. The score was 53-53 with 10:34 remaining. The Spartans started to take control of the lead but never up more than five points until a floater made by NSU's Jack Doumbia extended the lead to seven (65-58) with under seven minutes remaining.
Dickson made a pair of free throws followed by shot interference from Norfolk State led to a layup from Harris. Cleveland was fouled twice with one being on the offensive end as he made both free throws. Adedire capped this 9-2 run with a layup heading into the final media timeout down 67-64.
Back-to-back dunks from Norfolk State extended the lead to seven points for the Spartans. Harris made two free throws and Cleveland hit two threes and tied the game 74-74 with 59 seconds to go.
Redshirt senior Emmanuel Izunabor's big block ended up back in the hands of NSU as the Spartans scored. NCCU then turned the ball over twice as NSU's Thomas would ice the game at the free throw line with the Eagles falling 80-74.
Thomas of Norfolk State led all scorers with 28 points, 16 coming from the free-throw line.
Cleveland, Harris, and Smith joined King in double figures finishing with 14, 13 and 10, respectively. Cleveland and Harris combined for seven of the team's 12 assists.
The Eagles return home for the next set of games starting with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday, Feb. 24 at McDougald-McLendon Arena. The game starts at 4 p.m. with NCCU's seniors being honored before the game.
For more information on NCCU Athletics, visit NCCUEaglePride.com, or download the NCCU Eagles Athletics app.
