NORFOLK, Va. — A career-high 26 points from Derrik Jamerson Jr., including seven 3-pointers, was enough to lift the Norfolk State men’s basketball team to a 75-68 win over Bethune-Cookman on Monday night at Joseph Echols Hall. The Spartans improved to 4-0 in the MEAC after shooting 52 percent in the second half while holding the Wildcats back after a couple of second half rallies. NSU ran its overall record to 9-10 while B-CU dropped to 6-11, 1-2 in the league.
Jamerson made 7-of-10 from 3-point range, just one make off the school record of eight shared by a pair of players. He added five rebounds to his stat line as well. He was not the only player to set a new career high. Sophomore Kyonze Chavis added a career-best 15 points, including 11 in the second half, hitting all five shots from the field and all four from the free throw line. He helped NSU finish 15-of-19 from the charity stripe for the night. Senior Alex Long had 18 points on 9-of-14 shooting with eight rebounds. No other Spartan player had more than four points. The trio combined for 33 of NSU’s 43 points in the second period.
Once again, the Spartans led for the entire second half. That came after they took the lead late in the first half. Jamerson, however, started off with the hot hand. He had a pair of 3-pointers in the early going as the teams sat tied at 10-10 after just four minutes of play. The Wildcats did not score for the next five and a half minutes, but the Spartans could only push their lead to four during that time.
The Wildcats then went on an 11-2 run to take the lead themselves, 23-18, with 7:47 to go in the first half. Jamerson hit a pair of free throws and another trey to keep NSU close, but again the teams went cold from the floor. After NSU tied it up, neither team scored for three minutes until Chavis’ jumper with the shot clock winding down with less than two minutes left. That started a short 7-0 run for the Spartans, who went into the half up 32-28. Jamerson had another trey late in the first period and 14 points for the first 20 minutes of action.
Then early in the second half, Jamerson sank two more 3-pointers as NSU surged ahead 40-32. Bucket No. 7 from beyond the arc for the senior gave the Spartans their first double-digit lead of the game, 47-36. But the Spartans had just one score over the next six minutes as B-CU clawed back to within four with less than 10 minutes left.
After the Wildcats got to within two, NSU outscored the Wildcats 15-4 over nearly five minutes of game action, pushing ahead by its largest margin of the game at 13, 66-53. B-CU made one last surge, scoring nine straight to get to within four with a little more than a minute to play. The Spartans closed the game out by hitting 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
They ended the contest 26-of-55 from the floor, a 47 percent shooting night. Aside from Jamerson, however, the rest of the team made just 1-of-13 from 3-point range.
For Bethune-Cookman, Cletrell Pope had a double-double of 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting with 11 rebounds. Dondre Duffus made 7-of-12 from the floor for a 19-point night, and Wali Parks contributed 10 points and six rebounds.
The Wildcats only hit 2-of-14 from deep but they did connect on 47 percent for the game as well. A 16-of-28 night from the free throw line also hurt their night.
For the game, Bethune-Cookman outscored the Spartans 42-26 in points in the paint. NSU will spend the next weekend on the road, first at Savannah State on Saturday night and then at South Carolina State on Monday night.