Northern Kentucky capped off a men’s and women’s double-header for the Norse on Sunday night as they hosted Youngstown State. The Penguins were searching for what would be just their second win at Truist Arena in the series history. NKU looked determined to defend home court as it got out to an early lead, but a valiant comeback effort that drew within single digits came up just short as Northern Kentucky sealed the 94-79 victory.
The game began with an exchange of scores. There were three lead changes within the first three scores. Dan Gherezgher got five quick points in the first four minutes and YSU only registered five points overall during that span, giving the Norse an early 11-5 lead. A 9-1 Northern Kentucky run followed, courtesy of layups from Kael Robinson and Donovan Oday, paired with trips to the charity stripe from LJ Wells. Robinson elevated the lead to 15 before Cris Carroll connected on consecutive makes to stop the bleeding for the Penguins.
NKU scored nine of the next 11 points in the game to balloon the lead to 17, and a Robinson triple forced an Ethan Faulkner timeout as YSU was staring down a 20 point deficit. Oday and Gherezgher combined for seven of the next nine points to close the half out as Northern Kentucky took a commanding 50-24 lead to the locker room.
NKU head coach Darrin Horn relished how NKU looked to set the tone early.
“The way we came out tonight with the energy and the focus that we had, especially on the defensive end was really good to see. I thought a big key to that in the first half was our guards did a really good job rebounding the basketball. That makes your transition game that much faster and more dangerous,” Horn said.
NKU dominated nearly every facet of the game in the opening half. The Norse led in points off turnovers 11-0, They led points in the paint 24-6 and fast break points 17-3. That contributed to NKU shooting 56% overall and 66% from deep. The Northern Kentucky defense was smothering, as it held YSU to 22% overall and 14% from beyond the arc.
The lead seemed safe for NKU with a 17 point advantage in the first few minutes of the final half. The Norse became careless with the basketball as the time trickled away, but the Penguins seemed incapable of taking advantage of those mistakes as NKU still held a 19 point lead with eight minutes left.
Miscues from Northern Kentucky fueled a 12-0 run from the visiting team after Carroll and Bryson Dawkins combined for nine of those points to cut the deficit to 73-66, prompting a timeout from Horn as the game was far from over with just under five minutes left to play.
Horn said he expected the run, but didn’t like how his team responded to it.
“We knew they were going to make a comeback. [YSU’s] program has a lot of pride and really well coached. It was more of what we did. I know we had three straight possessions where we didn’t get a shot off,” Horn said. “They’re getting shots and you’re not, making it easier for them to come back.”
YSU recorded all 18 of its points off turnovers in the second half. NKU got the message in the huddle and mustered up a 9-0 run out of the timeout to push the lead back to 16, a lead they would not allow to dip back below single digits again on the way to the home win.
NKU struggled defensively in the second half. The Norse allowed the Penguins to shoot 53% overall and from three-point range in the final half. A big part of that was the sensational half from Carroll. He had 18 points in the second half on 5-of-6 shooting from the perimeter, a more efficient half from the Horizon League’s second best player in three point percentage.
NKU thrived with its physicality. As a team, it shot 32 free throws on the night, and forced the Horizon League leading blocker in former Norse Imanuel Zorgvol — arguably the Penguins best defender — to foul out in just seven minutes of action.
This victory marks three conference wins in a row for NKU and three straight conference losses for YSU. NKU improves to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play, good enough for third in the Horizon League.
NKU begins a four-game stretch on Friday with a road trip to Wisconsin to begin the gauntlet with a contest against the Milwaukee Panthers at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The game will tip off at 8 p.m and can be seen on ESPN+.
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