Rashad West scored a game-high 18 points, 14 in the first half, and Hampton held host Norfolk State to 32 percent shooting in a 62-58 win on Saturday evening at Echols Hall.

With the win, the Pirates remain in second place one-half game behind Morgan State. The Spartans, who had their three-game win streak snapped, fall into a third-place tie with North Carolina A&T.

The largest Echols Hall crowd in six years saw a nip-and-tuck, defensive game in which neither team led by more than eight points.

NSU guard Michael Deloach cut Hampton’s lead to two, 60-58, on a deep 3-pointer with 19 seconds left. But Pirates’ guard Brandon Tunnell hit two free throws with 14 seconds left, and NSU could not score again.

The Pirates committed 13 turnovers in the first half, but led much of the period behind West’s 5-of-8 shooting, 2-of-2 from behind the arc. Still, the Spartans’ forced a 30-all tie going into the half as Deloach blocked a West layup and hit a layup of his own at the other end.

Hampton reclaimed the lead early in the half as the Spartans hit just one field goal in the first five minutes of the period. But Tony Murphy, who was just 1-of-8 in the first half, hit two deep 3-pointers to tie the game at 40.

The Pirates outscored NSU 10-2 over the next 7:50 as NSU missed 10 of its next 11 shots. A jumper by West gave Hampton a 50-42 lead with 6:24 left in the game, the largest lead of the game for either team. NSU responded with an 8-0 run, capped by a Murphy layup, to tie the game at 50-all with 3:18 remaining.

But Michael Freeman answered with a three-point play at the other end to give his team the lead for good.
Vincent Simpson added 11 points for Hampton. Matthew Pilgrim had seven points, 10 rebounds and three of the Pirates’ eight blocks.

Deloach had 17 points, Murphy 13 and five assists, and Joseph Dorsett-Jeffreys a career-high 10 for the Spartans, who were 9-of-33 (27 percent) in the second half.