Three of the top four seeds on the men’s side advanced to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference basketball tournament semifinals, except for No. 3 South Carolina State, who was upset by No. 6 seed Delaware State 71-58 in the final quarterfinal game of the tournament.
The Hornets (15-17) trailed 36-27 at halftime, then proceeded to hold the Bulldogs (14-18) without a point for the first 6 minutes and 58 seconds of the second half.
During that period, senior guard Martaz Robinson and MEAC rookie of the year Deywilk Tavarez pushed the Hornets ahead to stay. Tavarez scored a game-high 29 points while Robinson recorded a double-double – 22 points and 12 rebounds. Delaware State made 31 of 42 free throws, with Tavarez going 13-of-14 from the line and Robinson making 14 of 16 attempts.
South Carolina State was led by Omar Croskey, who scored 13 points and got 12 points from Michael Teal.
The Hornets advance to play No. 2 seed North Carolina Central in Friday’s final semifinal game, scheduled for 8 p.m.
No. 4 seed Howard University led almost the entire way in defeating No. 5 Morgan State 78-65, setting up a 2023 MEAC championship game rematch with top-seeded Norfolk State in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal. The Bison shocked the Spartans 69-65 in that game, winning their first conference tournament title since 1992.
The Bison (16-16) got a game-high 28 points from first-team all-MEAC performer Bryce Harris, 17 from Jordan Hairston and 13 from Marcus Dockery. Grad student forward Seth Towns pulled down 11 rebounds to go with eight points. The Bears (11-20) were led by junior forward Will Thomas’ 27 points.
