ETTRICK, VA – The Virginia State University Men's basketball team dropped their fifth-straight game 68-59 at the hands of St. Augustine's University on Thursday evening.
 
 
Jonathan Norfleet and Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald accounted for 13 points each in the contest as Norfleet hit 6-of-11 of his shots from the field, added five rebounds and three assists. Fitzgerald tacked on six rebounds, three assists and a steal in the evening match up. Terrence Hunter-Whitfield scored nine points along with six rebounds while going 3-4 from the foul line. The Trojans came away with seven steals in the contest and were able to turn the 16 SAU turnovers into 23 points. The VSU bench had another decent outing outscoring the Falcons bench 24-5. The conference leader in points, Dhashon Dyson scored a season-high 28 points.
 
 
How It Happened

• As the two teams would trade baskets to start the contest, the Falcons would assume a 6-0 run to kick the score up to 12-5 with 14:17 left in the first half.

 

• Feeling the pressure of letting this one slip away, the Trojans went on a 10-0 run thanks to back-to-back three balls from Jordan Hernandez and Fitzgerald. The 10 unanswered points would put VSU in front, 19-16 with 8:00 to go in the first half.

 

• The two teams would continue to battle it out until there was two minutes left in the half. That is when the Falcons went on a 6-0 run to end the half with the lead 27-25.

 
 

• Cle'von Greene, Jordan Hernandez and Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald each had five points at the halftime break as Hernandez had a pair of steals and Fitzgerald had a pair of rebounds. The Trojans forced eight SAU turnovers along with shooting at a 40% clip from the field. VSU also totaled seven assists heading into the locker room as well. The conference's leading scorer, Dhashon Dyson, led the game with 17 points shooting 50% from the field.

 
 

• The Falcons scored three points out of half time. Even though Cle'von Greene would answer with a three-pointer, SAU would answer right back with another bucket to push the lead out to seven points at 35-28 with 15:48 left in the game.

 

• Four points from Jonathan Norfleet and two from Hunter-Whitfield were only points the Trojans could find through five minutes with the score at 44-35 with 10:20 left in the game.

 

• VSU would then make another push for the lead behind a 7-2 run to cut the lead down to four at 46-42 with 8:02 left in the contest.

 

• The closest the Trojans could cut the lead to throughout the remainder of the game would be six as SAU would match every bucket the Trojans got. The consistent scoring in the final 8 minutes of the game gave the Falcons the win 68-59.

 
 
Inside the Box Score

• The Trojans shot 83% from the line in the second half.

 

• The two team grabbed an identical nine rebounds in the game.  

 

• VSU shot at a 50% clip from the field in the second half.

 

• Virginia State forced 16 turnovers in the contest.

 
 
 
Up Next
The Trojans will have a little over a week off until their next game, which will be their second matchup against the Broncos of Fayetteville State University on Saturday, December 18. The Trojans will attempt to avenge the three-point loss against FSU starting at 7:00 p.m. after the women's game.