The Hampton Pirates emerged with the 67-62 victory following a close pitted battle with former head coach Bobby Collins and new rival Winston-Salem State Monday at the Hampton Convocation Center.

The Pirates overcame a four point halftime deficit, 33-29, to secure the win and snap a two-game losing skid.

“We came out and started with a lot of emotion,” said Hampton head coach Kevin Nickelberry. “We had a very excitable half, but somewhere in the middle of it we lost it. Right now, we’re having a hard time getting the ball inside. We play hard and when we stop playing hard that is when we find ourselves down.”

The Pirates came out of the gate with a 6-0 run, but the Rams quickly cooled off the rally. Within nine minutes of the game, the Pirates took a 10 point advantage but were once again tamed by another Ram comeback, who tied the game at 18.

In the second half, the Pirates took five minutes to erase WSSU’s four point lead. The Pirates secured the games’ final lead change after Rashad West knocked down a pair of free throws to put Hampton up by two.

The Rams managed to cut the lead to one, 55-54, with 6:29 remaining, but the Pirates would rally down the stretch to clinch the victory.

West led the Pirates in scoring with 18 points, followed by Vincent Simpson, who finished with 16.

Winston-Salem State was paced by Jamal Durham and Paul Davis, who netted 14 and 10 points, respectively.