HAMPTON, Va. (WTKR) — Both versions of the Battle of the Bay saw feisty, spirited games between Norfolk State and Hampton.
It would be the Spartans that would celebrate at the end of both.
On Saturday, the Norfolk State men and women held off challenges from rebuilding Pirate squads on the road. The NSU men withstood a second half comeback attempt to notch a 67-58 victory, a much needed response after losing to William & Mary on Tuesday night.
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"We always preach, whether it’s right or wrong, which is something that I preach to the guys, is that good teams don’t go on losing streaks,” said Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones. “So now, with the win today, we’re not on a losing streak, and now we gotta try to figure out how to go on a on a winning streak with a very, very tough West Coast trip.”
The Spartans got out to a hot start shooting and never looked back, making 44 percent of their shots from the floor and hitting just a touch under 39 percent from three.
Transfer guard Brian Moore continued a terrific start to the season, scoring a game-high 20 points while Christian Ings posted 16 and Jalen Myers, who was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time season, chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.
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"That’s probably our biggest advantage right now, is our offensive output," Jones said. "Today our defense traveled, because it didn’t travel Tuesday against William & Mary. I don’t know, we left it on the bus or somewhere, but it traveled today and we held them to 29% from the field."
Down 34-20 at halftime, the Pirates stormed out of the locker rooms with a quick 10-2 run that got the deficit down to 36-30. They would trim it down to six on a couple of occasions but could not get over that hump.
George Beale Jr., who played for Norfolk State the last two seasons, led Hampton with 12 points in a game that was hard to find offensive rhythm. Ivan Thomas' group shot just 29 percent overall and made eight of their 31 three-point attempts.
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"We’re not going to beat very many teams shooting 28% from the field.," Thomas said. "The one thing we can do is shoot the ball. Typically, when we make eight to nine 3s, that is a recipe for a victory. But tonight it wasn’t for us.”
Norfolk State improves to 4-1 on the season, preparing to go on a West Coast swing with Stanford up next on Wednesday. Hampton falls to 1-3, the last two games decided by single digits, with a trip to UMBC coming up on Tuesday.
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Norfolk State women led by as many as 12 but had to hold on against a perseverant Hampton squad for a 62-53 win.
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Up 50-38 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Spartans saw their lead trimmed down four with 5:17 to play after three CeCe Thomas free throws capped off an 8-0 Pirate run.
The green and gold, however, were able to string together enough stops and scored 12 points in the final four and a half minutes to get across the finish line with the win.
"I keep telling them, when you're a top 10 mid-major team in the country, you're gonna see teams best shots," said NSU head coach Larry Vickers. "Nobody's gonna fold. I think they kind of walk into the gym sometimes like people are gonna be scared when we really have to command respect."
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"Coach talks about us putting our foot on everybody else's neck," said Kierra Wheeler, who led Norfolk State with 16 points. "Showing that we are the better team on every possession, not just when it counts."
"Everybody's watching us, everybody wants to know our weaknesses. So they see this on film and I don't want them to think this is our weakness because it's not."
The Spartans' defense set the tone for the evening, scoring 26 points off of 28 forced turnovers. Hampton almost overcame those mistakes, owning a 41-37 rebounding advantage and getting to the free throw line 24 times in the game.
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"It was good but not good enough to get the victory," said Pirates head coach Tamisha Augustin on her team's defensive effort. "They have experience, they've been there. They made plays, they made plays when they needed to make plays and that's the difference between winning and losing against an experienced team."
Diamond Johnson scored 15 points while Niay Fields chipped in 12 for Norfolk State. Aisha Dabo posted a career-high 15 points and nine rebounds for the Pirates, while Thomas scored 10 points while going 7-7 from the free throw line.
Norfolk State improves to 4-1 with the win, heading home for the first time in four games for a matchup with Radford on Wednesday. Hampton is now 1-2 on the season with a road matchup against Vanderbilt also coming up on Wednesday night.
