HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University men's basketball team closed out its homestand on Thursday night with a 54-52 loss against Northern Kentucky at the HU Convocation Center.

Northern Kentucky picked up its first win as a Div. I program.

Redshirt-sophomore forward Emmanuel Okoroba (Garland, Texas) recorded his second straight double-double, leading the Pirates (2-8) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Deron Powers (Williamsburg, Va.) added 15 points, all in the second half, and eight assists.

Northern Kentucky scored the first four points of the game, before the Pirates fought back to tie the game at 4-4 at the 16:01 mark on an Okoroba jumper. Okoroba was big in the first half; his layup with 4:10 left in the opening frame gave the Pirates a 19-18 lead, and he gave Hampton a 22-21 lead at the 2:28 mark with another layup.

But the Norse closed the half on a 6-1 run, going into the locker room up 27-23.

Okoroba had 14 points at the break.

Northern Kentucky never led by more than six, going up 29-23 with 18:25 left in the second half after a putback by Jalen Billups. The Pirates fought back, going on a 10-3 run to take a 33-32 lead with 14:14 left to play after a pair of free throws from Power.

Billups gave the Norse a 34-33 lead at the 13:49 mark with a layup, and Northern Kentucky eventually took a 40-35 lead on a fastbreak jumper from Ethan Faulkner with 9:28 left to play. Hampton scored five straight, tying the game at 40-40 with 5:43 left on a Powers layup.

Powers again tied the game at 42-42 with 4:40 to play, before Billups went on a personal 6-0 run to give the Norse a 48-42 lead with 48 seconds to play.

Senior guard Jasper Williams (Washington, D.C.) hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to cut Northern Kentucky's lead to 51-49, and Chad Jackson only hit one of two free throws on the other end. Powers then hit a layup with five seconds left to cut the lead to 52-51.

Nate Snodgrass hit both of his free throws to give the Norse a 54-51 lead and ice the game.

The Pirates shot 31.5 percent (17-for-54) from the floor and went 16-for-22 (72.7 percent) from the free throw line. Hampton also took 15 Northern Kentucky turnovers and turned them into 11 points.

The Norse (1-6) shot 37.5 percent (18-for-48) from the floor and out-rebounded the Pirates 39-33.

Jackson led Northern Kentucky with 18 points, while Billups had 14 points and 10 boards.

The Pirates will return to action on Dec. 30, when they travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to take on Winthrop at 2 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.