Box Score PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Down by 13, UMES cut the Spartan lead to just two in the final minute, but Pendarvis Williams closed out the victory from the free throw line for a 66-62 win for the Norfolk State men's basketball team Saturday afternoon at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center.

Williams finished with 20 on the day, hitting four straight free throws with less than 20 seconds left as the Hawks were aiming for an upset victory. NSU improved to 9-7 overall and 3-0 in MEAC play, extending their national-leading conference regular season win streak to 22.

The victory did not come without some drama, though, as UMES faced a 13-point deficit at 17:01 after the Spartans began the second half on an 8-0 run. NSU was still up by 13, 49-36, with 13 and a half minutes left after a bucket by Williams.

The Hawks (2-13, 0-3 MEAC) eventually chipped away, getting to within four at 51-47 on a putback by Snyder with less than 10 minutes left to cap an 11-2 run. UMES stayed within six as the scoring began to slow, and then with less than two minutes left Hakeem Baxter hit two free throws to make it 59-56 in favor of NSU.

Junior Kievyn Lila-St. Rose drained a long jumper from just inside the 3-point line for a five-point edge with one minute left, but UMES got to within two twice thanks to baskets from Baxter. Williams, though, iced the win by hitting all four free throw attempts.

Williams hit 8-of-8 from the free throw line for the game, all in the second half, and is now 33-of-36 from the charity stripe in his last 10 games. He also added a game-high seven rebounds to help NSU snap a four-game slide.

As a team, NSU connected on 16-of-20 from the charity stripe in the second half and 18-of-25 overall.

Lila-St. Rose tallied a career-high 13 points, including 11 over a 90-second span in the first half that helped NSU erase a three-point UMES lead.

The Spartans called a timeout just six minutes into the game, as the teams were deadlocked for the early going. Senior Brandon Goode had a couple of dunks and six points as the teams went into the under-12 media timeout tied at 12. A pair of free throws and a trey from Lila-St. Rose helped the Spartans cut into the deficit, and then two more 3-pointers capped a 90-second, 11-0 run, all from the junior, for a 23-17 NSU advantage.

Senior Anell Alexis had a pair of buckets for an eight-point NSU edge, 30-22, with less than six minutes in the half. Williams hit a pair of 3-pointers to get the lead to double-digits, but the Hawks scored the last five points of the first stanza to send the Spartans into the locker room up 35-30.

Alexis also added 13 points for the game, while Goode tallied 12 points and seven boards.

After hitting better than 51 percent in the first half, NSU cooled in the second and finished the day 21-of-48 (43.8 percent) from the floor.

UMES shot nearly identical, 20-of-46 (43.5 percent), while the Spartans held a narrow 32-30 edge on the boards. Devon Walker (12 points), Troy Snyder (11) and Baxter (10) all reached double figures for UMES.

Both teams also hit nearly the same from 3-point range (6-of-16 for NSU, 5-of-13 for UMES) and the free throw line (18-of-25 for the Spartans, 17-of-23 for the Hawks).

NSU will finish out the weekend trek at Delaware State on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Hall.