NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Norfolk State may have gotten out to a slow start on Wednesday night, but the Spartans were not about to let anybody hand them a loss to end the season.
The green and gold overcame an 18-point first half deficit to storm back and top Purdue-Fort Wayne, 75-67, in the CIT championship game at Echols Hall. With the victory, NSU finished the season a perfect 15-0 on its home floor.
"This has a lot of meaning," Spartans' head coach Robert Jones said. "A lot of people turned their backs on us after we lost to that Howard team in the (MEAC) semifinals like we didn't have a good basketball team. Things happen and we wanted to show against a very good Purdue-Fort Wayne team, and you guys saw it, that we could compete with anybody in the country."
"Not too many people can say they've done that," added senior guard Christian Ings on winning a championship in March. "This is a very unique experience and a very unique feeling I've never felt before, so I'm glad to be a part of it and I'm glad that me and my guys took care of business and got the job done."
The Mastodons made that job tough early on, knocking down nine first half three-pointers and swelling their lead to as many as 18 points. A late surge in the frame helped the Spartans cut the deficit to 10 at the half as they went into the locker room trailing 41-31.
The second half, however, belonged to Norfolk State. Ings hit a triple to cut the Purdue-Fort Wayne lead to six with 18:33 to play and about seven minutes later, Allen Betrand gave NSU its first lead of the night when he knocked down a long-distance jumper. The Spartans opened up their lead to as many as 11 points down the stretch and held on for the win. They held the visitors to just 26 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
Ings was named the CIT Most Valuable Player after scoring 17 points to lead the green and gold. Betrand added 16 points off the bench, with Jaylani Darden adding 11 points and Jamarii Thomas chipping in 10 points. The Spartans owned the paint, out-scoring the Mastodons underneath, 42-20.
Norfolk State wrapped up its 2023-2024 season with a 24-11 record.
