Jaron Cornish, Stony Brook hold off Norfolk State

NORFOLK, Va. — Jaron Cornish scored eight of his career-high 22 points in the final 4 minutes, 19 seconds as Stony Brook beat Norfolk State for the second time in 11 days, 72-65, on Tuesday night.

The Seawolves (6-1), who have won four in a row, led 39-32 at the half and built the margin up to 18 points (53-35) on Anthony Ochefu’s jumper with 16:13 left.

SBU led 68-55 after Jeff Otchere’s free throw with 7:32 left but Norfolk (3-5) went on a 9-0 run to pull within four points at 68-64 with 4:46 remaining on Steven Whitley's two free throws.

That’s when Cornish, who shot 8-for-11 and added four assists and five rebounds, went to work. First, he hit a jumper for a five-point lead, then after the Spartan's Nic Thomas hit a three to get it to 70-67, Cornish hit another jumper and a three-pointer to push the lead up to 75-67 with 2:23 to go.

"Really proud of the way the guys stepped up tonight and do what they did in order to pull out this victory," Stony Brook coach Jeff Boals said. "We were able to take care of the ball in the second half and that was definitely key to us winning. We had to play some young guys and younger lineups and they really showed a lot. I'm really happy about the performance that Jaron [Cornish] put together. He was able to lead us down the stretch and to the win."

Akwasi Yeobah had 16 points and seven rebounds and Otchere 12 points and seven boards for SBU. Andrew Garcia scored 11 points.

This is Stony Brook's first 6-1 start in the program's Division I era.

Thomas hit four three-pointers and scored 18 to pace the Spartans (3-5), who lost for the first time in four home games. Mastadi Pitt had 14 points and four assists, and Jordan Butler and Armani Branch scored 10 apiece.

Stony Brook buried 26 of 47 shots from the floor (55 percent), including 9-for-19 from three-point range. The Spartans sank 22 of 48 shots (46 percent). Norfolk State made 8-for-21 from three but were outrebounded 35-19.