Bryant Jr. leads Norfolk St. past NC Central 87-58 in MEAC

<p>NORFOLK, Va. &mdash; Joe Bryant Jr. scored a career-high 30 points as Norfolk State rolled past North Carolina Central 87-58 in the Mid-Eastern Conference Tourney quarterfinals on Thursday night.</p>
<p>The win sends the Spartans directly to Saturday’s championship game as their semifinal opponent, top-seeded North Carolina A&amp;T, was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of a positive COVID-19 test within its program.</p>
<p>Bryant shot 7 for 10 on 3-pointers and Norfolk State opened the game with a barrage of treys, jumping out to a 17-0 lead.</p>
<p>Kashaun Hicks had 13 points for Norfolk State (15-7). Devante Carter added 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Chris Ford had eight rebounds.</p>
<p>C.J. Keyser had 19 points for the Eagles (5-9). Deven Palmer added 14 points and seven rebounds.</p>
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<p>Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, <a href="http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap">http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap</a>, using data from STATS LLC, <a href="https://www.stats.com">https://www.stats.com</a></p>