Norse Show No Mercy on Titans, Cruise to First Round Win
March Madness is upon us in “Horizon Leagueland.” So it was only fitting that the maddening, streaking force that is the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team bowled over its opponent and into the 2nd Round of the Barbasol Horizon League Tournament Tuesday night.
The Norse (17-15, 11-9 HL) parlayed their home court advantage into a not-so-merciful battering of visiting Detroit Mercy, 99-75, in the cozy confines of NKU’s Truist Arena. The win now guarantees Head Coach Darrin Horn’s team a winning season, the program’s ninth in a row.
Four Norse players recorded double-digit scoring efforts in the clash with the Titans (8-24, 4-16), while the squad overall dismantled its opponent in every significant category on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
The Norse were led in scoring by junior guard Dan Gherezgher (19 points), senior wing Trey Robinson (18 points), grad guard Josh Dilling (16 points) and junior forward LJ Wells (16 points). Senior guard Sam Vinson added 9 points and 6 assists to the winning effort.
Wells was pressed into starter-grade minutes when senior post Keeyan Itejere fouled out of the game after just 16 minutes on the court. He went on to shoot 71.4% from the field and snag 9 rebounds on a night where the Norse dominated the board and the paint.
Winners of eight of their last 10 games to close out the season, the Norse are – predictably, if recent history is the measuring stick – playing their best brand of ball at the right time of the year, and will have the opportunity to travel to Cleveland Thursday to knock off Cleveland State (20-11, 14-6).
The Vikings may well be playing with a trophy-sized chip on their shoulder, as they missed out on a Horizon League championship by one game to regular season champion Robert Morris. A win over CSU would effectively punch NKU’s ticket to Indianapolis and the Horizon League Tournament semifinals.
The Norse may be facing CSU at just the right time, as the Vikings dropped 5 of their last 8 games to close out the regular season – one of those losses, an 85-75 bump in the road, came at the hands of the Norse on February 5. The two heated conference rivals will line up across from each other Thursday night, March 6 in Cleveland State’s Wolstein Center. Tip-off is set for 8:00pm EST.
