NORFOLK, Va. (AP) Patrick Cole had 21 points, including three 3-pointers, seven rebounds and six assists, Kyle Benton added 12 points with eight rebounds and top-seeded North Carolina Central beat Maryland-Eastern Shore 79-49 on Friday night in the semifinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament.

Dajuan Graf had 14 points, Del'vin Dickerson scored 11 and Pablo Rivas 10 for NCCU (24-8), which will face No. 2 seed Norfolk State or 11th-seed Howard in Saturday's championship game.

Cole had four points, three assists and two steals in the first six minutes as the Eagles took a 14-2 lead. Eastern Shore (14-20) pulled within two on a Tyler Jones' putback of his own miss with 7:11 left in the half, but NCCU scored 17 of the next 19 points to take a 38-21 lead into the break. The Hawks, who had their three-game win streak snapped, never threatened in the second half.