Devon Moore scored 17 points, including the go-ahead basket after James Madison squandered a 12-point, second-half lead and the Dukes beat Mississippi Valley State 62-54 Tuesday night in an NIT Season Tip-Off consolation game.

Instead of finishing with a flurry, Virginia Union barely made it across the finish line in its season finale yesterday in losing 36-13 to CIAA nemesis Elizabeth City State.

Hidden behind the Virginia State offensive line, receiver Brian Berry folded the football in his arms and kept his eyes down, counting off time. The eye black stickers underneath his facemask had “Watch Me” inked in white, but selling a fumblerooskie to the Virginia Union defenders depended on nobody even noticing him. He ached to burst out from behind the tackle, to take off running on third down and 15. But Berry stayed low and waited.

Virginia State travels to Elizabeth City State licking its wounds. The Trojans are likely to be outmanned Saturday, in part because of injuries to sophomore linebacker LaQuentin Milo and junior offensive guard Manuel Becker. Milo went down with a knee injury early in the fourth quarter during VSU’s 23-13 loss to Fayetteville State. He is listed as questionable and could be replaced by freshman Trent Bowe or junior James Dixon.

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The Virginia State defense needed to make one last stand to give the Trojans a chance at completing a comeback at Rogers Stadium. Instead, Fayetteville State’s punishing ground game mowed down the Trojans during a game-clinching 14-play, 99-yard scoring drive last night. The Broncos chewed up about seven minutes before tailback Richard Medlin scored from the 1-yard line with 8:04 to go to cement a 23-13 victory.

Lamar Little isn’t off to his usual fast start this season, mostly because of nagging ankle injuries. But he flashed signs of recovery on Saturday by completing 10 of 17 passes for 167 yards and a season-high five touchdown passes. “Lama is still coming around, but he isn’t there yet,“ said Virginia Union coach Greg Richardson. “He’ll try to make a big play when he doesn’t have to. We’re insisting he take what [defenses] give him.“

Where: Zable Stadium (cap. 12,259), Williamsburg
  When: 7 p.m.
  Radio: WCLM (1450), 6:30
  Tickets: $25 adult, $17 youth, sideline; $19 adult, $12 youth, end zone
  Records: Norfolk State 2-1, William and Mary 1-1
  Players to watch: NSU—RB DeAngelo Branche, So., 64 carries, 319 yds., 3 TDs, LB Anthony Taylor, So., 18 tackles, 2 sacks, PR Jeremy Wicker, So., 21.8 yd. average. W&M—QB Jake Phillips, Sr., 28-48-4, 311 yds., 4 TDs, TB Terrence Riggins, So., 27 carries, 231 yds., SS David Caldwell, Jr., 17 tackles, 1 sack

ETTRICK - Virginia State quarterback Leonard Johnson said he thought to himself, "this hurts." And it was painful for the Trojans' faithful as they watched St. Joseph's freshman quarterback Mike Hladik loft a 53-yard game-winning pass to flanker Scott Chapman with 55 seconds left to give the Pumas a 43-36 victory. Only seconds earlier, Johnson engineered a 92-yard, 13-play scoring drive that seemingly cemented victory for the Trojans before a pumped-up crowd at Rogers Stadium.