Senior guard heats up late to spark Spartans

NORFOLK

For most of the first 25 minutes of Saturday's game between Norfolk State and Maryland-Eastern Shore, Michael Deloach was as cold as the blowing snow outside Echols Hall.

But when he had to, he ignited like an artificial log.

After missing 11 consecutive shots - seven of those from the field and four from the free-throw line - Deloach scored 16 of Norfolk State's final 29 points as the Spartans came from behind to beat the Hawks 64-62 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action.

Needless to say, after grabbing a defensive rebound with 35.4 seconds left and the game tied, Deloach let everyone in the building know he intended to take Norfolk State's last shot.

After crossing mid court, Deloach let the clock run down, then took his defender off the dribble into the lane and kissed a 6-foot, fall-away jumper off the glass for the game-winner with 3.9 seconds left.

The Hawks attempted a buzzer-beater after two timeouts, but Neal Pitt's 10-foot jumper bounced off the back of the iron.

And with that, the Spartans (5-16, 4-5) have a modest winning streak of two games, their first of the season. They can stretch it to three games when they host Delaware State at 8 p.m. Monday.

Deloach, who had hit the game's opening shot before going ice cold, finished with 18 points to pace the Spartans. Rob Hampton scored 13 and Kyle O'Quinn had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

"Just because I was off, I wasn't going to sell out my team," Deloach said. "I knew eventually the shots would start falling."

They couldn't fall, however, with the backcourt of Deloach and Aleek Pauline on the bench saddled with two fouls. The Spartans trailed 34-26 at the half, but Spartans coach Anthony Evans said that was a blessing.

"With those guys on the bench, we just wanted to get to the half trailing by less than double digits," Evans said. "We got some good minutes from Antoine Perry, Marcos Tamares and Joseph Dorsett-Jeffreys to get to the half like we did."

It became evident early in the second half that the Spartans were a different unit... and Deloach was a different player.

A 15-foot baseline jumper by Deloach, his first bucket in 25 minutes, cut the Hawks' lead to 39-37 with 14:52 left. Deloach converted twice on conventional three-point plays in the next eight minutes and the Spartans took a 55-49 lead on two Deloach free throws with 6:17 left.

But for as hard as he was trying to win this one for the Spartans, Deloach almost lost it for them.

With 1:29 left and the game tied at 60, Pauline threw a pass behind Deloach near midcourt as Deloach started to cut to the basket. Rather than give up a sure layup to the Hawks' Tim Burns, Deloach grabbed Burns' jersey and was hit with an intentional foul, giving Burns two free throws and UMES (6-16, 4-5) the ball out of bounds. Burns, who had a team-high 15 points, made both and the Hawks had a 62-60 lead and the ball.

The Spartans dug in defensively and a Kevin White 3-pointer, contested hotly by Hampton, came up short.

When Pauline grabbed the rebound, the Spartans raced to the other end and O'Quinn converted a game-tying transition layup.

The Hawks' Hillary Haley failed to draw iron on a mid-range jumper at the other end and Deloach, the Spartans' 6-foot senior guard, grabbed his seventh rebound of the afternoon, setting up his game-winner.

"I had the same situation against North Carolina A&T and fumbled it away as I drove into the lane," Deloach said. "I was thinking about that play while I was dribbling at halfcourt. I wasn't going to fail again. I was determined to score."

Rich Radford, (757) 446-2463, rich.radford@pilotonline.com