HAMPTON, Va. – In a tale of two halves, the visiting USC Upstate Spartans had the stronger of the two halves and defeated Hampton 90-79 on Senior Day for the men's basketball team.

Hampton opened the game blistering hot as Jermaine Marrow hit consecutive 3-pointers in the midst of a 12-0 run to lead 33-19 on a Davion Warren layup at the 8:37 mark.  The lead grew to 38-21 on another triple by Marrow with 6:43 left.

USC Upstate trimmed the lead to 11 on a Tommy Bruner 3-ball with 45 seconds left, but a jumper by Edward Oliver-Hampton and a layup at the buzzer by Ben Stanley gave Hampton a 49-34 halftime lead.

The second half saw the visiting Spartans hit 60% from the floor to overcome an early 17-point deficit as a Stanley layup put Hampton up 51-34 just 15 seconds into the half.  USC Upstate used a 14-0 run over a 3:18 span to take a 63-59 lead after a 3-point play by Everette Hammond.  The Spartans hit three triples and Hammond's three-point play in that run.

Marrow had 30 points on a career high eight 3-pointers, with six rebounds and six assists to lead Hampton, while Stanley had 25 and eight rebounds.    Greg Heckstall added 10 points for the Pirates.

Hampton finished the regular season tied for fifth place in the league with UNC Asheville.  The Pirates owned the tiebreaker with the Bulldogs having swept them this year.  That tiebreaker gave Hampton an opening round bye and advanced them to the quarterfinals on Thursday night at 8pm in Radford, Va. facing Longwood.

For more information on Hampton University men's basketball, please contact the Office of Sports Information at 757-727-5757 or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.