Box Score RICHMOND, Ky. – Mike DiNunno and Corey Walden combined for 24 second-half points to lead Eastern Kentucky to a 68-44 win over the Norfolk State men's basketball team Saturday night at Paul S. McBrayer Arena.

The Colonels (5-0) led by nine at the half and by just four with 11 and a half minutes left in the game before pulling away from the Spartans on the heels of a 20-5 run. NSU (2-4) hit just 16-of-49 from the floor for the game (32.7 percent) and committed 19 turnovers.

Junior Malcolm Hawkins led the Spartans with 13 points on the night, while no other player had more than seven.

DiNunno had 19 points all-together and Walden posted 15 for Eastern Kentucky. Glenn Cosey joined them in double figures with 14. The trio went a combined 18-of-30 from the field. As a team, Eastern Kentucky hit 51 percent for the game on 26-of-51 shooting.

NSU got off to a slow start, falling behind 10-0 before junior Pendarvis Williams finally got the Spartans on the board with a nice backdoor cut to the basket. The Colonels went up by as much as 11, 15-4, before Hawkins drained a 3-pointer from the left wing with 10:23 to go in the first half.

Eastern Kentucky went up by as much as 16, 24-8, before the Spartans ended the half on a 9-2 run. NSU went into the break down 26-17 after hitting just 6-of-23 (26.1 percent) in the half.

After Hawkins hit a trey less than a minute into the second half, the Colonels held NSU to just one field goal over nearly a six-minute span. A pair of baskets from Hawkins just 13 seconds apart cut the deficit to seven, 36-29, with 12:15 to go in the game.

Senior #A.J. Rogers# got the deficit to four, 36-32, after making 1-of-2 from the foul line and then sinking a 10-foot jumper after the Spartans got the offensive board following his second free throw shot. The Colonels immediately used a 12-2 run to get their lead back into double digits before senior Rob Johnson sank a 3-pointer from the left corner at the 8:35 mark.

Eastern Kentucky, though, hit 3-pointers on its next two possessions and led by at least 17 the rest of the way.

Rashid Gaston had seven points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Spartans. NSU held the edge on the boards, 32-28.

Eric Stutz had eight points, six rebounds and five assists for the Colonels. DiNunno and Walden each had four steals.

NSU will wrap up the long road portion of its early schedule Monday at Morehead State at 7 p.m. before hosting St. Francis (N.Y.) Thursday at Joseph Echols Hall for the home opener.