NORFOLK, Va. – Quinton Chievous scored a season-high 23 points to lead four Pirates in double figures in Friday night's MEAC Tournament semifinal, leading the Hampton University men's basketball team to a 75-64 upset of No. 2 seed Norfolk State at the Scope Arena.
 
The Pirates (15-17) will face No. 5 seed Delaware State, which upset top seed North Carolina Central in Friday's other semifinal, in Saturday's championship game.
 
The game will be televised live on ESPN2 at 1 p.m.
 
It will be Hampton's first MEAC Tournament championship game appearance since 2011, when the Pirates defeated Morgan State 60-55 to take the title and the automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
 
Chievous (Chicago, Ill.) went 6-for-9 from the floor and hit 11 of 13 free throws. He also had a team-high 16 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Reginald Johnson (Chicago, Ill.) chipped in 13 points, while Ke'Ron Brown (Savannah, Ga.) added 11 points and Brian Darden (Hampton, Va.) poured in 10, hitting all three of his 3-pointers.
 
Eight of Darden's 10 points came in the second half.
 
The Pirates 38.5 percent (20-for-52) from the floor and made 32 of 38 free throws (84.2 percent) – including 19 of 26 from the charity stripe in the second half.
 
Hampton also held the edge in second-chance points (14-8) and fastbrek points (8-6).
 
The Spartans controlled most of the first half, leading 26-21 at the 7:22 mark after a jumper from D'Shon Taylor. But the Pirates went on an 11-2 run to take a 32-28 lead at the 4:02 mark following a layup from Chievous.
 
Deron Powers (Williamsburg, Va.) hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to send the Pirates into the half with a 36-33 lead. Chievous led with 13 points at the break.
 
Hampton then went on a 14-6 run to open the second half, taking a 50-39 lead at the 12:39 mark after a layup from Brown. When Johnson sank a fastbreak layup with 7:11 remaining to put the Pirates up 57-43, it was their largest lead of the night.
 
But the Spartans went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 61-56 with 2:36 left on a dunk from Taylor.
 
But within five was as close as Norfolk State would get, cutting Hampton's lead to 69-64 with 31 seconds left after two free throws from Zaynah Robinson. But the Pirates closed out the game with back-to-back free throws from both Johnson and Chievous to clinch the win.
 
Norfolk State (20-13) shot 38.2 percent (21-for-55) from the floor but only hit three of 10 3-pointers. The Spartans out-rebounded the Pirates 37-34, though both teams had 12 offensive rebounds.
 
Taylor led three Spartans in double figures with 16 points and seven rebounds. RaShid Gaston added 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting, and Jeff Short chipped in 10 points.
 
Gaston scored 11 points in the second half alone.
 
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.