Junior guard Michael Deloach scored a career-high 30 points and nailed the game-winning jumper with six-tenths of a second left in overtime to give Norfolk State a come-from-behind 78-77 win over Bethune-Cookman on Saturday at Moore Gymnasium.

NSU (11-10, 7-2 MEAC) trailed 77-76 with 3.9 seconds left. Deloach inbounded the ball on the right wing to Tony Murphy, who had his 3-pointer attempt blocked by Jimmy Hudson. But Deloach gathered the rebound on the right baseline, faded to his left and swished a 17-footer. The Wildcats (9-14, 3-6) inbounded the ball to Dominique Whatley, but his desperation shot from past halfcourt fell well short, clinching the Spartans’ fifth win in their last six contests.

It didn’t appear it would be the Spartans’ day early. The Wildcats’ playing a sticky man-to-man defense and led by as many as 10 points in the first half. B-CU held NSU to 36 percent shooting in the first half and forced 10 Spartan turnovers en route to a 29-22 halftime lead.

Murphy hit a short jumper just out of halftime to cut NSU’s deficit to five, 29-24. But the Spartans missed 10 of their next 11 shots from the floor, leading to a 22-3 Wildcats’ run over the next eight-plus minutes. A 3-pointer by Whatley gave B-CU its largest lead, 51-27, with 10:52 remaining.

The Spartans slowly clawed their way back into the game with a full-court trapping pressure defense. They forced 19 second-half B-CU turnovers, leading to 20 NSU points. NSU’s offense picked up the pace thanks to Deloach, who scored just four points in the first half. He was 12-of-16 from the free throw line in the second half. The last of those two made free throws brought NSU within 68-67 with 27 seconds left.

The Wildcats’ Kyle Cook made 1-of-2 from the line at the other end, but Corey Lyons hit a driving layup with two seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime at 69-all.

The lead changed hands five times in OT. B-CU’s John Holmes, who had 23 points and eight rebounds, hit two free throws with 15 seconds left for a 77-76 B-CU edge and set the stage for Deloach’s heroics.

Deloach was 7-of-12 from the floor and 15-of-21 from the free throw line. The 21 attempted free throws set a new NSU single-game record. He added four assists, four rebounds and three steals. Murphy had 14 points, a career-high six steals, and three assists. Lyons was the other Spartan in double figures, with 13 points.

Dewayne Pettus added 16 points and Hudson 13 for the Wildcats, who out-rebounded NSU 45-30 but suffered from 30 turnovers.