Norfolk St. distances itself from S. Carolina St. 78-54 (Jan 20, 2018)
ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) Mastadi Pitt scored 17 points and Steven Whitley hade 16 and Norfolk State broke the game open after halftime and beat South Carolina State 78-54 on Saturday.
Norfolk State (4-15, 2-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) led 35-31 at intermission and scored seven points in 81 seconds with layups from Whitley and Alex Long and a 3-pointer from Kyle Williams to open the second half.
Damani Applewhite had a layup and a pair of free throws and Janai Rayner-Powell had a jumper to bring the Bulldogs within 54-46 but they couldn't get closer the rest of the way. Whitley and Pitt hit 3-pointers for a 54-41 lead. An 8-0 run later pushed the lead to 68-50 with 5:07 left.
Williams scored 13 points and Long finished with 12. Norfolk State shot 31 of 59 (52.5 percent) from the field including 11 of 25 from 3-point range.
Applewhite paced South Carolina State (7-13, 3-2) with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs were 15-of-51 shooting (29 percent).
