Raiders invade Truist Arena, leave with rivalry win
The Wright State University men’s basketball team rolled into Highland Heights Saturday on a two game slide after a close loss at Robert Morris (75-72) and then landing on the wrong side of an overtime thriller at home against Purdue Fort Wayne (120-113). As it turns out, the old adage “third time’s a charm” rang true for the visiting Raiders.
As in previous games this season, the Norse got off to a sluggish start, and finished just as softly, giving the visitors the I-75 Rivalry bragging rights…at least until NKU makes the trip to Dayton in late February. The Raiders (10-10, 4-5 HL) handed the Norse (9-11, 4-5 HL) their fourth consecutive loss, 78-70, in front of 2,743 fans, pushing the Norse further down the Horizon League standings (8th).
Junior forward LJ Wells got the scoring started in the first minute of the game for the Norse off a layup in the paint. The Eau Claire, Wisc. native was hacked on the play and proceeded to finesse his free throw home for a quick 3-0 Norse lead.
After Wells got the Norse on the board with his and-1 conversion, the visitors took the Norse helmets by their horns and quickly exerted their will on the hosts. The next five minutes were owned by Wright State, as the Raiders rattled off 11 straight points before a media timeout at the 15:21 mark in the half.
Amidst a flurry of turnovers and missed shots, the Norse couldn’t keep the Raiders off the board:
- A short jumper by Wells fell off its mark and the defensive board was corralled in by junior forward Brandon Noel
- Raiders charge down the court and get on the board with a short jumper by freshman wing Andrea Holden – NKU up, 3-2
- Norse take possession, but lose out on a missed jumper in the paint by senior wing Trey Robinson
- Raiders regain possession, swing the ball down the court where junior guard Keaton Norris makes good from long behind the arc – WSU 5-3
- Norse look to level the score, but sophomore guard Randall Pettus II coughs up the ball
- After a series of subs on both sides at the 16:58 mark, the Raiders take the ball and Noel again finds himself in the paint for a layup – WSU 7-3
- Norse regain possession, grad student Josh Dilling misses a jumper, Norris snags the defensive rebound and sets up the visitors’ offense
- Norris finds Houston Christian transfer forward Michael Imariagbe camped in the paint for a quick bucket, Raiders bump lead to six – WSU 9-3
- At the other end of the floor, the Norse run their offense and miss out on points again, this time on a Robinson layup that was swatted away by Noel and recovered by Norris
- After exchanging scoreless possessions, Noel snagged a board off a missed jumper by Norse senior guard Sam Vinson
- At the 15:21 mark, senior wing Jack Doumbia pulled up in the paint and rattled home a jumper that gave the Raiders an 11-3 lead
- A Media timeout at 15:09 stopped the bleeding for the Norse
Despite going on a five minute scoring drought, the Norse regrouped and went on a run of their own, shaving the lead to two (14-12) at 11:20 following a layup by transfer guard Dan Gherezgher Jr. The rangy junior averaged 15 points per game last season at Michigan Tech before taking the step up from Division II.
The bitter conference rivals battled back and forth trading single-digit leads the remainder of the half. Dilling broke a 29-29 tie at the 4:21 mark with a long three-pointer, giving the Norse their first lead (32-29) of the game since they opened the scoring at 3-0. But Wright State took advantage of a collection of NKU missed shots, missed free throws and turnovers to retake the game and carried a seven point lead (40-33) going into halftime.
After halftime, the rivals restarted action and the Raiders dragged the lead out to 11 (54-34) at 11:15 on the strength of a trey from grad student guard Andrew Welage.
The Norse whittled the Raider lead back down to three (65-62) after a fast break pull-up three-pointer from Dilling found its mark at 4:07. With NKU in the Bonus with 3:34 remaining in the game, junior post Keeyan Itejere was fouled on a missed free throw on the Raiders’ end and was perfect on both of his attempts, narrowing the Wright State lead to 66-64.
A thunderous dunk by Itejere at the 1:04 mark kept the Wright State lead to a single possession game at 73-70. With the game winding down, the Norse weren’t able to clear the boards on the defensive end and at 0:38 Norris missed his shot, but Noel found it in the paint and put it in the bucket for a 75-70 Raider advantage.
The Norse had multiple opportunities to tie the game up but missed their shots down the stretch, and ultimately the Raiders tagged free throws on to the end of the scoring to close out the game.
This home conference loss came on the heels of a brutal road loss on January 15 to Cleveland State, 76-58. In the 18-point loss to CSU (14-6, 8-1 HL), the Norse were brutalized in the paint and on the boards, where they were heavily outscored down low (40-28) and on turnovers (23-9). The Norse started off slow against the Vikings and managed just 28 points in the first half, leaving themselves little room to make up ground down the stretch against the conference leaders.
The More NK(U) Know:
Trey Robinson:
- 17 points – 4 boards – 1 steal – 4/13 from the field (30.7%) – 8/10 from the line
- Season field goal %: 48.9% (ranked #7 in Horizon League)
- Averaging 15.7 ppg (ranked #4 in HL)
Josh Dilling:
- 17 points – 3 boards – 1 steal – 5/9 from the field (55.6%) – 4/6 from deep (66.7%)
- Averaging 11.6 ppg
- Shooting 41.3% from 3 (ranked #2 in HL)
- Shooting 79.5% from the line (would rank Top 10 in HL with more attempts)
Sam Vinson:
- 10 points – 6 boards – 2 blocks – 3/12 from field (25%)
- Leads team in Minutes Played (642) after season-ending ACL Reconstruction
- Averaging 4.3 assists per game (ranked #2 in HL and best average of his career)
- Ranked #7 in HL in Assist-to-Turnover Ratio (2.1)
- General decline in scoring stats and shooting percentages, but senior guard continues to grind, lead the team and refuses to change his style of full-tilt play
Keeyan Itejere:
- 11 points – 8 boards – 3 blocks – 5/9 from line (55.5%)
- Starting to find strong balance in his scoring and rebounding – averaged 11 points, 11 boards last two games
- First back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts this season (11 points vs. Cleveland State on 1/15/25)
- Shooting 49.6% from field – would rank Top 10 in HL with more attempts
Noteworthy Norse Notes:
- Wright State featured 9 players who played double-digit minutes
- Points Off Turnovers: NKU 9, WSU 12 (-3)
- Point in the Paint: NKU 26, WSU 38 (-12)
- Bench Points: NKU 24, WSU 29 (-5)
- “Free” Throws vs. WSU: 22/32 (-10 pts / 68.8%)
- Scoring – Last 4 games: Averaging 60.5 ppg
- The Norse are now 8th in the Horizon League, with the tie-breaker going to WSU
- NKU National Rankings:
- Free Throw %: 344 of 364
- 3 Point Shooting: 241 of 364
- Offensive Scoring: 303/364 (65.8 ppg vs. D1 Opponents in Regulation)
- Defensive Scoring: 155/364
The Norse will look to regroup and find their winning ways as they look forward to a Friday, January 24 home tilt against conference foe Milwaukee. Tipoff is set for 7:00pm EST and game attendees will be enjoying the Norse Script Hooded T-shirt Giveaway presented by the Kentucky Lottery.
The Panthers are enjoying a 13-7 (6-3 HL) season and boast the conference’s second most potent scoring offense (78.3 ppg). The Panthers are surely riding a wave of confidence in the rivalry with NKU, following their Horizon League semifinals win over the Norse last season.
