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Courtesy of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
NORFOLK, VA – Sixth-seeded Delaware State outscored the third-seeded Bulldogs of South Carolina State 44-22 to register a 71-58 come-back win Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament at The Scope.
Hornet guards Deywilk Tavarez and Martaz Robinson scored all but 20 of Delaware State’s 71 points in the victory. Tavarez tossed in 29 points, including a 13-14 effort from the charity stripe, while Robinson had 22 points and was 14-16 from the line. He also led the Hornets on the board with 12 rebounds.
The Bulldogs were led by Omar Croskey with 13 points and Michael Teal with 12. Croskey and Drayton Jones had five rebounds each to lead the Bulldogs on the boards. The Bulldogs finished the year 14-18.
SC State led by as many as 13 in the first half before settling for a 36-27 advantage at the half. But the Bulldogs, who had swept the regular-season series against Delaware State, started the second half cold. The hot-shooting that occurred early in the contest when Coach Erik Martin’s team took a 36-23 lead with 1:32 on the first-half clock, was nowhere to be found.
Conversely, the Hornets opened the second half with a 12-0 run to go ahead 39-36 on two Robinson free throws with 14:15 to play.
SC State got its first points of the final stanza on a 3-pointer by Croskey to deadlock the contest at 39-all with 13:02 to play but an 18-4 Hornet spree put Delaware State ahead 57-43 with 6:40 remaining. The closest SC State came after that was 10 points, the last time at 68-58, but on 43.3 seconds remained
The Hornets enjoyed a 43-33 edge on the boards.
Delaware State moved into Friday’s semifinals and will face North Carolina Central, the second seed, in an 8 p.m. contest. The Hornets improved to 15-17 on the season.
