WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., March 11, 2009 ? Jessie Burton’s driving lay-up with 2:22 remaining put South Carolina State ahead 57-54 and the second-seeded Bulldogs hung on for a 57-56 victory over seventh-seeded Hampton Wednesday in quarterfinal action at the MEAC tournament at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Coach Tim Carter’s team, 17-13, moved into Friday’s 8 p.m. semifinal against the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup between third-seeded Norfolk State and Bethune-Cookman, the sixth seed.
The Bulldogs, ahead 29-25 at the half, built a 45-38 advantage when Jimmy Williams made one of two free throws with 10:39 remaining.
Hampton’s Vincent Simpson, who led all scorers with 22 points, sparked a Pirate rally that pulled the underdogs into a 53-53 deadlock on Brandon Tunnell’s runner with 3:51 on the clock. The sophomore was fouled on the play but failed to complete the three-point play that would have given Hampton its first lead since early in the opening period.
SC State’s Williams got a tip with 3:11 showing to put the Bulldogs back in the lead 55-53, but Simpson, who was only 3-9 from the charity stripe, made two from the line with 2:01 left to pull Hampton to within one.
Both teams muffed opportunities to score in the final two minutes, but the Pirates had the game’s final possession, with 9.8 seconds left, but Tunnell’s jumper was short and SC State grabbed the miss as time expired.
“The game was an even game most of the night,” said the Bulldogs’ Carter. Simpson hurt us of course but we did a good job on him on their last two possessions.
“Turnovers were key too as we had only 14 compared to 17 or 18 normally.”
Hampton’s Nickelberry noted that poor free-throw shooting hurt his team as Hampton hit only 14 of 25 attempts from the line.
“We just could not hit free throws,” he said. “A made free throw here or there may have made a difference.
“But we got a good opportunity there at the end,” he continued, “but Brandon’s shot just didn’t fall. He would hit that short eight out of ten times.”
Williams had 12 points and seven rebounds to lead the Bulldogs. Josh Jackson came off the bench for 11, Carrio Bennett added 10 and Burton and Jason Flagler eight each in the win.
Following Simpson in the scoring column for Hampton was Tunnell, who had 11.
The Bulldogs started slowly, falling behind 13-4 when the Pirates’ Theo Smalling connected on two free throws with 14:20 on the first-period clock. The Bulldogs clawed their way back and pulled even, at 13-13, on a tip by Jackson with 11:32 showing.
SC State grabbed its first lead -- since holding a 2-0 advantage ? when Bennett nailed a 3-pointer, completing a 12-0 and putting the Bulldogs ahead 16-13 with 11:05 left.
Simpson countered with a 3-pointer for Hampton to deadlock the contest at 16-all at the 10:44 mark and the Pirates regained the lead ? at 18-16 ? on a Simpson bucket with 10:26 left in the period.
Jackson then got a short jumper and a lay-up to trigger a 12-3 spree that gave SC State its biggest lead of the half, 28-21, when Johnson got a reverse layup at the 5:24 mark. Hampton closed out the half with a 4-1 run to get to within 29-25 at the break.