Norfolk St. 63, Bethune-Cookman 58

Published Mar. 13, 2009 1:37 a.m. ET

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Corey Lyons scored 28 points and Norfolk State defeated Bethune-Cookman 63-58 on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament. Despite shooting 50 percent (22-for-44) from the foul line in the game, the third-seeded Spartans (12-17) advanced to play second-seeded South Carolina State in Friday's semifinals. Norfolk State is looking for its first MEAC championship game appearance since moving to Division I in 1998. Lyons scored 15 points in the second half for the Spartans, who led for all but one minute of the game. Aleek Pauline added 10 points and Brandon Monroe grabbed 11 rebounds. Michael Deloach, the MEAC's leading scorer (21.7), scored nine points for the Spartans. C.J. Reed, the MEAC freshman of the year, led the sixth-seeded Wildcats (17-16) with 21 points.