Brown leads Miami past Norfolk State 64-49

Feb 1, 2014, 06:27 pm

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Rion Brown scored 15 points as Miami snapped a three-game losing streak and defeated Norfolk State 64-49 on Saturday.

The Hurricanes never trailed after a late first-half run that resulted in a 10-point lead at halftime.

Manu Lecomte scored 13 points and Garrius Adams finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Hurricanes (11-10). The win was Miami's first since a 56-42 Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Georgia Tech on Jan. 18.

3-pointers from Lecomte and Adams helped Miami on a 12-0 surge to start the second half that stretched its lead to 43-21. Tonye Jeriki's jumper capped the run with 14:19 remaining.

Riley Maye's jumper with 14:02 remaining ended a field-goal-scoring drought of 11:05 for the Spartans. Norfolk State missed 13 consecutive shots before Maye's conversion.

The Hurricanes maintained a double-figure lead the remainder of the game. Norfolk State got to within 50-40 on Pendarvis Williams' running jumper with 6:31 remaining.

Williams scored 21 points and Brandon Goode finished with 14 for the Spartans (12-10).

The Hurricanes overcame their only deficit and outscored Norfolk State 13-2 in the final 7:23 of the first half. Brown scored seven points during the run and his running jumper with 1:30 remaining put the Hurricanes ahead at halftime 31-21.

Norfolk State shot 1 of 9 from the field and had five turnovers in its late first-half scoring drought.

The Spartans ran off nine unanswered points during a 2:18 span midway through the first half for their first lead. Williams scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, in the spurt. Williams' second 3-pointer with 8:05 remaining ended the run and gave Norfolk State a 19-18 advantage.

Lecomte hit two 3-pointers early as Miami built a 15-8 lead 6:31 into the game. A 3-pointer from Brown with 10:40 remaining increased the Hurricanes lead to 18-10.

Miami resumes ACC play with a home game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Norfolk State will return to its Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schedule Feb. 8 at Morgan State.