DATE: Thursday, November 27, 1997           TAG: 9711270876

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: LONG BEACH, CALIF.                LENGTH:   38 lines

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER, NSU PULLS DOWN 1ST DIVISION I WIN

This is the way it's supposed to work: Kenny Brown penetrating and dishing for easy scores, Damian Woolfolk stroking his jumper from all over the court, Sean Blackwell corralling missed shots and Norfolk State's defense triggering the transition game.

Tuesday night, it all finally came together for the Spartans, who crashed into the Division I win column by burying Long Beach State 72-53 at the 49ers' state-of-the-art Pyramid.

A 32 percent shooting team going in, the Spartans (1-3) shot 53 percent for the game against the shell-shocked 49ers, 63 percent in the first half. They outrebounded the 49ers by 15, after losing the battle of the boards in each of their previous three games. And four players - Woolfolk (21 points), Brown (15), Blackwell (14) and Darrell Neal (11) - scored in double figures. The Spartans hadn't had more than two double-digit scorers in any game this season.

``Most people back home didn't think we'd win a game on this trip,'' Spartans coach Mike Bernard said. ``So when they look at this score, I hope they're very proud, because I know I'm very proud.''

The Spartans, who had been outscored by 93 points in their three previous games, sought to set the tone early by sprinting out of their pregame huddle and taking their positions at midcourt while the startled 49ers looked on.

``We wanted to intimidate them a little,'' Blackwell said. ``We wanted to jump on them the way teams have been jumping on us.''

The Spartans promptly rolled up a 9-1 lead before the game was 2 1/2 minutes old and expanded their advantage to 23 points before settling for a 43-21 advantage at the break.

A rash of turnovers - the Spartans gave it away 29 times - and a nearly seven-minute stretch during which they failed to score a point helped the 49ers (1-2) close to within 13. But Norfolk State clinched the victory with 10-of-12 free-throw shooting in the final 2:36.

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