The 2025-2026 season comes to an end for the Spartans men’s basketball team (#4) after falling to the South Carolina State Bulldogs (#2) 88-82 in the quarterfinals of the 2026 MEAC Men’s Basketball tournament.
“This is a tough, tough loss – the first time it’s happened to me in my career of us losing the first day,” said Spartans Head Coach Robert Jones. “We had winning streaks, we had losing streaks, we had highs, we had lows, and even in this game, we had highs and lows – it’s just a life lesson that you can’t wait to seize the opportunity.”
Spartans guard Jordan Leaks made the first bucket of the game with a driving layup, and Bulldogs guard Jayden Johnson responded with an and-one basket, knocking his free throw in for a three-point play.
The Bulldogs’ 10-0 scoring run gave them a strong lead, and Spartan guard Anthony McComb III broke the run making two free throws.
As the Spartans were trying to pick up some momentum, forward Devon Ellis made an and-one layup, but in their next possession of the ball Johnson had a steal.
It didn’t phase the Spartans, and they went on an 11-2 scoring run to make it a four-point game. During that time, McComb got his first three of the game with six minutes left in the half.
The Bulldogs not only made more shots, but they also attempted more. They made 16-32 shots from the field, compared to the Spartans’ 10-18 shots.
With seven seconds left in the half, Bulldogs guard Noah Treadwell made a three-pointer for a nine-point lead going into halftime 39-30.
“We didn’t play a good first half. We didn’t play a good first half of the second half, honestly – probably from that 10-minute mark, we started playing a little bit more of a Norfolk State basketball,” said Jones.
Ellis got the first bucket coming out of halftime with a driving layup, but Johnson responded with a three-pointer. Spartan guard Adrean Newton checked back into the game starting the second half and made his first bucket with a three-pointer.
Spartan forward Jaquel Morris showed some emotion from missing what was supposed to be an easy layup and slapped a ball into the goal post when blocking a Bulldog’s layup.
Defending his teammate, Bulldogs forward Teon Tindal blocked McComb’s jumper, nearly hitting a Spartan cheerleader.
After two fouls on the Spartans back-to-back, forward Keyontae Lewis made the best of his teammate’s missed layup with a tip-in dunk, then made his own layup in the Spartans’ next possession.
The Bulldogs had multiple and-one layups, a few that the Spartans didn’t agree with. There was an out of bounds call on the Spartans under their basket, and Jones challenged the call, which they won.
Bulldogs Head Coach Erik Martin pulled the same card when the ball was called out on them, which they also won. That didn’t matter to the Spartans as guard Elijah Jamison stole the ball and made an and-one layup.
It was a game of resilience for the Spartans, and they more than doubled the shots they attempted in the first half, making 16-41 of their shots in the second half and ended the game only six points behind 88-82.
“This hurts a little bit, I’d say that much, but it also gives motivation that this will never happen again – this right here will never happen again as long as I’m the coach at Norfolk State University,” said Jones.
Spartan leaders of the game were Jamison with 24 points, 100% free throw percentage making 11, two assists, and two steals. McComb was right behind him with 21 points. Jaydon Johnson was named “Player of the Game” and finished with his career high of 28 points.
The men’s championship game will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 14th at the Norfolk Scope Arena between the winners of game 10, Howard University versus South Carolina State, and game 11, Delaware State versus North Carolina Central.
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