MEAC Men's Basketball Tournament Opens in Norfolk

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament got underway Thursday at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, featuring quarterfinal matchups among the top eight teams vying for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Top-seeded Howard, with a 21-10 overall record and 11-3 mark in league play, entered as the clear favorite after a dominant regular season.

In the first quarterfinal Thursday evening at 6 p.m. EDT, the second-seeded Norfolk State Spartans faced the ninth-seeded South Carolina State Bulldogs. Norfolk State, holding a 15-16 overall record and 8-6 in the MEAC, averaged 76.2 points per game during the regular season, ranking sixth in the conference with 12.0 assists per outing led by guard Elijah Jamison's 3.0 per game. The Spartans shot 47.1 percent from the field over their last 10 games, outscoring opponents by an average of 3.7 points in that stretch. South Carolina State, at 10-21 overall and 8-7 in conference play, struggled with a 3-15 record against teams above .500 but showed resilience in close contests, going 3-15 in games decided by at least 10 points. The Bulldogs averaged 67.3 points per game, fifth in the MEAC,...