Bryant Jr. leads Norfolk St. past NC Central 87-58 in MEAC

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Joe Bryant Jr. scored a career-high 30 points as Norfolk State rolled past North Carolina Central 87-58 in the Mid-Eastern Conference Tourney quarterfinals on Thursday night.

The win sends the Spartans directly to Saturday's championship game as their semifinal opponent, top-seeded North Carolina A&T, was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of a positive COVID-19 test within its program.

Bryant shot 7 for 10 on 3-pointers and Norfolk State opened the game with a barrage of treys, jumping out to a 17-0 lead.

Kashaun Hicks had 13 points for Norfolk State (15-7). Devante Carter added 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Chris Ford had eight rebounds.

C.J. Keyser had 19 points for the Eagles (5-9). Deven Palmer added 14 points and seven rebounds.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com