NKU hosted the Detroit Mercy Titans on Thursday. Both teams were looking to overcome previous bad performances, as Northern Kentucky looked to bounce back after an underwhelming loss at Green Bay, and UDM hoped to snap a five game losing streak. The game started quickly for the Norse, but after a solid response from UDM, NKU coasted to a 96-71 victory.
The strong start for the Norse was fueled by Dan Gherezgher, who connected on a pair of triples, before a couple trips to the charity stripe had the Norse up 10-0 in the blink of an eye. His aggressive play did not translate to the defensive end as Gherezgher picked up an early second foul, allowing Detroit to go on its own 9-0 run to trim the deficit to one heading into the first TV timeout. NKU head coach Darrin Horn said he was not surprised by the early response from the Titans.
“These teams are all good. All really well coached. All big and athletic and so, of course they’re going to make a run. Our guys responded to it which was good but we don’t come out and expect to hang 90 points. We’re playing four minutes at a time,” Horn said.
Donovan Rakotonanahary was inserted in the lineup after the break. His impact was felt immediately as he delivered a couple slam dunks, much to the delight of the Highland Heights crowd. LJ Wells finished off the next stretch of minutes by converting a layup off the pick and roll to put Northern Kentucky up seven in what would be the start to a career night for him.
UDM hung around for the better part of the first half, but triples from Gherezgher and Ethan Elliot capped off another run, this time 9-0, to put Northern Kentucky up nine and force the Titans to call a timeout. UDM responded again as TJ Nadeau connected on a pair of shots from deep, and Orlando Lovejoy got his night started with back-to-back baskets to cut the deficit all the way down to two.
That is where the Detroit momentum stopped for the night. NKU finished the half on a 23-5 run from that point. Wells had nearly half of those Norse points during the run. He finished the half with 15 points, and that was the halftime margin with NKU leading 52-37 at the break. NKU scorched the nets in the opening frame. The team shot 60% overall and 56% from range. The only consistent offense the Titans could muster was from Nadeau, who finished the half as the only visiting player in double digits, with 12 points behind four triples.
Northern Kentucky did not take its foot off the gas after halftime. The lead never dipped back down to single digits for the rest of the night on the way to a convincing victory. The biggest reason for that is the play of Wells. He poured in 20 more points in the final half on his way to 35 points. That ties a scoring high for the conference this season and makes him just the third Norse in the division I era to tally 35 points.
Horn mentioned that he really challenged his guys after what he felt was an underwhelming performance at Green Bay in the last game out. Wells echoed those sentiments, saying that was some of the motivation behind this performance.
“Coach had gotten on me like the past two days. So, I feel I just came with a better mentality and my teammates were getting me the ball. It’s definitely a boost of confidence knowing that I’m capable of a night like that. The main mindset is just being consistent,” Wells said.
His head coach wasn’t as impressed with the point total as the way he went about getting there.
“Can’t say enough about LJ Wells. I think he led the charge with physicality. It led to 35 points which is great, but I think the most impressive part of that is he drew seven fouls and shot 13 free throws,” Horn said.
Another key to the Norse victory was the perimeter defense and how they contained the leading scorer for the Titans. Detroit came into this contest shooting an excellent 41% from deep in conference games, but they were held to just 28% on Thursday. Pairing that with forcing Lovejoy into an inefficient 4-for-17 night was a recipe for success for the home team.
Horn added that it takes a bit of fortune to get a player like that to shoot a low percentage. He said on any given night they could guard him the exact same and those shots could go in because he’s such a talented player.
Northern Kentucky improves to 14-6 overall and 6-3 in conference play, while Detroit dropped its sixth straight game at Truist Arena. NKU will look to string consecutive wins together on Saturday when they clash with the Robert Morris Colonials. The game is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
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