Northern Kentucky played host to the Wofford Terriers on Wednesday afternoon. A choppy and foul-filled first half turned into a free flowing and high scoring affair that saw Northern Kentucky come out on top, 93-83. This win made it four wins in a row for NKU and kept them undefeated at Truist Arena this season.
Much like Monday, the game started slow for both sides. Free throws from Wofford broke the three minute scoring drought to begin the game. NKU did not find their first field goal until the 13 minute mark when a Donovan Oday fast break layup finally took the lid off the basket. Thanks to numerous free throws, however, the Norse still had a 12-10 lead to that point despite the shooting woes.
The next stretch continued to be many free throws. The Terriers were able to find some success from behind the arc with makes from Nils Machowski and Maximo Ortega. That was answered with scoring stretches from Dan Gherezgher and LJ Wells, who each played 34 minutes on the day. Wells followed that with seven more points and a triple from Oday sent the Norse into the final four minutes of the opening half with a 38-31 lead.
The Terriers kept answering any run the Norse went on. Kahmare Holmes had seven of the final 12 points in the half for Wofford to take a game that looked like it was slipping away to one where the deficit was cut to just two at halftime. Neither team was able to get any true momentum because of how the game was officiated.
The teams combined for 47 free throws, 30 for the Terriers and 17 for the Norse. NKU ended the half with seven players registering two or more fouls in the first frame.
Wofford regained the lead in the second half’s opening minutes and kept it that way going into the first media timeout after back-to-back buckets from Brian Sumpter. The fouls were still piling up as 11 combined fouls were called in the first five minutes of the second half, but that is where they stopped being the story of the game.
Cayden Vasko would aid in the scoring efforts after that, joining Sumpter and Ortega in the momentum swing. NKU responded by continuing to get to the line instead of shooting outside shots. This was only the second game this season the Norse didn’t make double digit threes. They only attempted 13. They made a concerted effort to get to the inside and punish one of the nation’s smaller teams. That helped keep NKU close.
The Norse reclaimed the lead on consecutive baskets from Oday. It still went back-and-forth heading into the final four minutes with the game tied at 78. The game turned all Norse from there as NKU would only allow free throws from the Terriers on the way to closing the game out on a 15-5 run. The game was put out of reach on a Dan Gherezgher three with 48 second left that put NKU up seven points and the Truist Arena faithful on their feet.
Gherezgher was half of the first Norse duo to score 20+ points in the same game since Trey Robinson and Josh Dilling were able to last season. The other half of the duo was Oday who was the first 25+ point scorer for Northern Kentucky this season. Head coach Darrin Horn Credits the attitude that Oday brings to every game.
“The thing that has been most impressive is he has shown an unbelievable amount of maturity. He’s just playing to win. He’s hungry to impact winning and a winning program and nobody is impacting that more individually on a consistent basis on our team right now than Donovan.”
This is the second straight game that NKU has been able to hold onto the lead after securing it late. Horn cited the team’s depth as the reason why.
“I think maybe the biggest thing that stands out and is starting to be a bit of a thing for our team is how many different players stepped up and made plays late offensively.”
One statistic that could be lost amid all the free throw shooting is the dominance for Northern Kentucky in the paint. They outscored the Terriers 52-30 in that area. Senior LJ Wells said NKU wasn’t being aggressive in the paint solely because of the size advantage.
“It’s always an emphasis to be physical in the post. Obviously tonight we had the advantage, so we took advantage of that.”
NKU will close out their November schedule with a match-up against Boston University on Saturday, as they attempt to remain perfect at Truist Arena. The game will be at 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
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