Red-hot Spartans earn a sweep on Baltimore trip

BALTIMORE

The kid they call Penny dropped a quarter on Coppin State on Monday night.

Pendarvis Williams, Norfolk State's 6-foot-6 sophomore point guard, erupted for a career-high 25 points as the red-hot Spartans won 74-66 at Coppin State's Physical Education Complex.

The victory pushed Norfolk State's record to 14-5 overall and 6-0 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, by far their best start in league play.

Their seven straight victories, including Saturday's at Morgan State, is the school's longest winning streak in 17 years, dating to the program's glory days when it reached the Division II Final Four in 1995.

Williams went 9 for 12 from the field, including 6 for 8 from the 3-point line. S enior center Kyle O'Quinn scored 24 points and tied his career high with 19 rebounds. It was his 12th double-double of the season.

There was some doubt whether Williams would even play Monday.

He took a scary fall Saturday night at Morgan State when he went up for a dunk at full speed, only to have Morgan State forward DeWayne Jackson thwart it with a hard foul across Williams' chest and arms.

Knocked off-balance, Williams' right foot brushed the bottom of the net as his body came parallel to the floor. He landed hard on his left side and left the game. As the Spartans departed the locker room that night, Williams was confirming which hotel room the team's trainer would be in, knowing he'd need treatment.

"Penny's my roommate on the road and when we got back to the hotel Saturday night he said he was going to be all right," O'Quinn said. "That was good enough for me."

Williams said it was more his rib cage than his hip that was bothering him.

"When I hit that floor at Morgan State, I couldn't catch my breath for a good three or four minutes," he said. "It really knocked it out of me."

He wasn't about to sit this one out, however. A year ago in this gym, he went 6 for 6 off the bench and finished with 17 points.

"It's a shooter's gym," Williams said. "You can really see the rims well and they're soft."

While Williams lit it up, the Spartans grounded the Eagles early. NSU led by as much as 22 points in the second half before the Eagles made it respectable.

Coppin State (8-10, 3-2) offered an unusual challenge - a collection of quick, undersized guards led by point guard Tony Gallo, who came in averaging 15.3 points.

Gallo made one shot all night, a desperate, fade-away 15-footer near the end of the first half.

Norfolk State didn't trick up its defense. Instead, the Spartans dug in with man-to-man coverage and dedicated switches, including one that left 6-7 Rob Johnson guarding 5-9 Taariq Cephas.

Cephas, nonetheless, could not get around Johnson.

"We are really taking pride in stopping people," NSU coach Anthony Evans said. "We knew we had to stay in front of their ball handlers because they like to penetrate and kick it out. They average 23 3-pointers a game."

While the Spartans had an answer for Coppin State's strength, the Eagles had no answer for O'Quinn, who had four dunks while going 11 for 15 from the field. O'Quinn had a double-double by halftime with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

He outplayed counterpart Antonio Williams, who finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Logan Wiens led the Eagles with 20 points.

The Spartans will return to Hampton Roads on Saturday when they visit Hampton University at 6 p.m.

O'Quinn said the Pirates have been on his mind plenty this season and will remain there the rest of this week.

"They've beaten us four straight and knocked us out of the tournament and ended our season the last two years," O'Quinn said. "We do our pride sprints at the ends of practices with Hampton on our minds.

"But right now we're on one of those winning streaks where we want it to go as long as it can. We have to make it really hard for the next Kyle O'Quinn and the next bunch of players to match it."

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