Round Two of the Horizon League Championship featured a rubber match between two teams that had very different (but similarly opposite?) seasons. With Cleveland State scuffling through February after winning 13 games in a row, Northern Kentucky (who ended that streak) came in on a five-game win streak after a tough start to the year.
Northern Kentucky (17-15, 11-9 Horizon League) at Cleveland State (20-11, 14-6)
With these schools meeting for the third time this year, the first two games went to the home team. CSU won back in January 76-58 but NKU picked apart the Vikings in February to win 85-75 and start the downward slide for the Vikes.
The Vikings (the two seed) just missed out on the regular season championship and top seed of the conference tournament, but they entered the game after a bye. The Norse (the seven seed) destroyed Detroit Mercy in the first round on Tuesday 99-75. They put up 49 and 50 points in each half of that game so the Viking defense had a tough assignment.
With regular starters (minus injured Reece Robinson) of Tevin Smith, Tahj Staveskie, Ebrima Dibba, Isaac Abidde, and Dylan Arnett, the Vikings got the scoring going with an Arnett putback on a Staveskie missed three.
The starting five for the Norse was their normal lineup of Dan Gherezgher Jr., Trey Robinson, Sam Vinson, Josh Dilling, and Keegan Itejere.
The first few minutes were an Arnett and Staveskie show as they both had four points to create a quick 8-2 lead. Arnett continued to be all over the boards and grabbed numerous rebounds on both ends.
Both teams decided they didn’t want the ball and turnover after turnover saw the score stagnate. The Norse finally hit another shot with 10:47 to go in the half, and CSU was also working through some issues on offense so the score sat at only 10-5 Vikings.
The Norse cut it even closer with a basket on their third chance on one possession (following two CSU blocks). Smith and Itejere traded two baskets each to keep the game close then a Dibba drive right through the lane started to open up the lead.
The Norse were losing on the scoreboard but they kept winning on the offensive board. A missed free throw directly led to another Norse three to close the gap.
Horizon League Freshman of the Year (both official and Horizone Roundtable) Je’Shawn Stevenson got in on the action with a three plus a difficult lay-in. The Vikings had opened a 27-17 lead.
The Norse charged forward with a classic three-point play, a powerful Itejere dunk, and then a Vinson three. The Vikings hit two free throws right before halftime, but the game was now incredibly close at 33-27.
The Norse came out hot and sunk two threes to start the half. These makes cut the deficit to two points and the Vikings were on their heels. Arnett continued to keep the Vikings going on offense, but Itejere continued to answer (cutting it to a one-point game at the under-16 minute media timeout).
Abidde put the lead back to three with an emphatic slam but Trey Robinson finally got on the scoreboard with a three to tie the game at 40.
Another Abidde bucket, followed by a Chase Robinson steal and Smith layup put the Vikings back ahead by four.
A 6-0 run by the Vikings plus a charge taken by Cole Franklin had the Wolstein Center getting loud. It was 50-41 with 8:45 to go in the game. A pair of Dibba (41.1% from the line on the season) free throws grew the run to 8-0 and eventually 10-0.
Not to be outdone, a pair of made threes by the Norse pulled them right back in the game. Though they hadn’t scored from the field from the 14:14 mark to the 5:50 mark, it was back to a seven-point game with just over five minutes to go.
Another Trey Robinson three cut the Norse deficit to just six points with under three minutes to go. A bit of back-and-forth plus a bunch of free throws by both sides saw the point differential hover around six.
Suddenly with less than a minute to go, the Norse cut the score to a four-point game and then shortly after a three-point game (on a difficult Dilling three).
Smith put the game away with a slew of free throws and the Vikings escaped with a 68-63 win to head to Indianapolis for the fifth year in a row.
Key takeaways:
- CSU only made one three the entire game (taking 10). NKU went 10 for 27 from deep but the Vikings were able to win the battle in the paint. CSU out-scored NKU 42 to 24 in the paint despite the Norse grabbing 20 offensive rebounds. “[Vikings Head] Coach [Daniyal Robinson] emphasized at the beginning of the game and before we went out [that] it was gonna be a paint game,” Smith noted afterwards.
- The Vikings were able to stop all the Norse runs with great defense. NKU never led and once they tied the game at 40, CSU went on a 14-1 run. Eight blocks and nine steals highlighted the amazing defensive effort. Arnett spoke about how this defense was going to help the Vikings moving forward. “I feel like our defense is made for March. The way we play, the way we guard, it’ll definitely help us win games.”
- CSU went 19 for 22 from the line. Getting to the line has been a struggle for the Vikings lately but they fixed that during this game. The Norse went 9 for 12 but the Vikings beat them with volume. Coach Robinson also discussed the foul shots a bit after the game. “Tonight, we needed them all because NKU kept the pressure on us. They kept coming and so we needed all those free throws. Those guys were able to step up and knock them down. So [I’m] really proud of them and really proud of their effort.”
- Arnett put up another double-double (16 points and 10 boards) plus four assists and four blocks. Smith added 16 points and Franklin added eight rebounds off the bench in only 14 minutes. All nine of the Vikings that played contributed and showed their versatility as a team. Showing the team’s mentality, both Smith and Arnett talked about taking the rest of the year “game by game.” Coach Robinson added, “all the things that we’ve been through all season-long have prepared us for this.” He continued, “it’s the concentration level. It’s the extra effort. It’s all this stuff that doesn’t necessarily show up in box scores. You can take Cole Franklin, for instance, his impact on the game tonight was as great as anyone. And I think he had two points, but defensively he was elite, and he was momentum-changing. He made momentum-changing plays defensively.”
- NKU sees their year end after a great end of the regular season. Gherezgher finished with 18 points. Itejere had 13 points. LJ Wells added a true double-double (10 and 10). Head Coach Darrin Horn after the game had nothing but praise for his team. “[I’m] really proud of our guys’ fight, especially in those last eight minutes. [They] played hard, never gave up, and gave us a chance to win there at the end. [We] just weren’t able to come through.” Talking about what led to the Vikings winning, Coach Horn added, “[the] difference in the game was that they were able to finish the same kind of looks we weren’t able to. I give a lot of credit to them and their fight and poise down the stretch with us pressuring them.”
Next up for the Vikings:
CSU (21-11, 14-6) takes on Youngstown State (20-12, 13-7) at 9:30 PM EDT on Monday in the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship in Indianapolis. This is the fifth year in a row that CSU will play in Indy. Coach Robinson was more than ready. “It’s our expectation here at Cleveland State.”
