NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY/AP) — Norfolk State University has won the MEAC tournament, and now, the team is headed to the NCAA tournament.
Joe Bryant scored 17 points and Kashaun Hicks added 14, including a pair of clinching dunks, as Norfolk State defeated Morgan State 71-63 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game to earn its first NCAA Tournament bid in nine years.
Bryant scored 10 straight points in a run that gave the Spartans a double-figures lead that eventually reached 16 points and lasted until there were three minutes remaining.
The Bears got as close as six before Hicks sandwiched a pair of dunks around Morgan State’s final bucket to ensure the Spartans’ seventh straight win. De’Torrion Ware lead Morgan State with 16 points.
Norfolk State’s Devante Carter (14) goes up for a dunk against Morgan State during the first half of of an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament at the Scope Arena on Saturday, March 13, 2021, in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/Mike Caudill) 
Norfolk State’s Devante Carter, center, drives past Morgan State’s Tahj-Malik Campbell, left, and Malik Miller, right, during the first half of of an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament at the Scope Arena on Saturday, March 13, 2021, in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/Mike Caudill)
Norfolk Festevents held a MEAC watch party at Town Point Park and later posted to social media saying:
“Thank you to all of the amazing MEAC fans who came out to Town Point Park this afternoon for the 50th Anniversary MEAC Basketball Championship Watch Party!”
