NKU hosted their homecoming game in the early evening on Saturday as they welcomed the Milwaukee Panthers. The Norse were looking to end a five game losing streak, while Milwaukee was hoping to avoid a four game losing streak. The first half was back and forth, while the second half saw a strong Northern Kentucky push followed by a Milwaukee last ditch comeback effort. Ultimately, Northern Kentucky was the one to get off the losing streak in a 67-62 victory that gave NKU head coach Darrin Horn his 300th career win. He said the milestone is one that just reminds him of the opportunity he has.
“Just means that I’ve been really blessed to have a lot of really good players and great staff around me. Other than that, we’re just trying to get the next one,” Horn said.
The game began quickly for the Panthers as three players all scored at the rim, giving the visiting team an early 6-1 lead and bringing the Truist Arena crowd to a hush. Northern Kentucky didn’t register their first field goal until four minutes in on a Dan Gherezgher layup. Layups from Aaron Franklin and Chandler Jackson that followed forced the Norse into an early timeout.
The next stretch saw NKU have three different players all knock down threes to even the game at 18. Both teams traded a pair of threes after to continue the back and forth action. The home team closed the half on a 10-5 run behind the second triple from Bryce Darbyshire and a steal and slam from Tae Dozier. NKU led 36-31 going into the halftime break.
The opening half saw three lead changes and four ties. Milwaukee competed with efficient shooting. They shot 46% overall and 50% from deep. NKU shot almost identical numbers and thrived on extra opportunities as they registered six offensive rebounds in the first half.
The second half started much the same with whiplash action. The Norse began to gain some breathing room as Gherezgher connected on a spinning layup before Donovan Oday converted an and-one opportunity and added one more with a technical free throw that pushed the lead to eight. Gherezgher sank another three soon after to swell the lead to the biggest of the day at 13.
The Panthers were not phased. Milwaukee responded out of the media timeout with a 12-0 run as the Norse went cold, they called a timeout to find some answers as the NKU lead was cut down to one. Coach Horn said that the foul trouble the Norse faced led to some stagnant offense during that stretch.
“Give Milwaukee a lot of credit. Their bigs did a tremendous job at switching on guards and making it hard for them to drive…but the biggest part of it is no LJ Wells. We’ve got a special five man because you can run offense through him. He’s as good of a decision maker as we have on the team,” Horn said.
NKU went six and a half minutes before an Oday slam ended the scoring drought. Josh Dixon made sure the momentum didn’t fade for Milwaukee as he scored seven of the next nine points for the Panthers to keep the visiting team within one as the closing minutes ticked down. The final full possession for Northern Kentucky was given to Gherezgher, who found the bottom of the net on a fading turnaround jumper just outside the lane. Oday followed that up with a steal on the other end and free throws that iced the game away.
A big reason that NKU was able to finish this game off was Gherezgher, who had 14 second half points. Gherezgher finished with 22 points and bounced back after the 1-9 and four turnover performance in his last game. The senior said he just had to change his focus.
“Throughout my career I’ve gone through the ups and downs of shooting slumps or just bad offensive nights. So tonight was one of those nights where I try to focus on not putting so much pressure on making shots. When I do that, things usually go well at some point,” Gherezgher said. He added it took a change in attitude that they hadn’t had in a few games to get off the losing streak.
“We just focus on being a little more desperate. Coaches felt we weren’t desperate enough. So we focused on being desperate to do whatever it takes to win. We did that tonight,” Gherezgher said.
NKU gets their first win in February and will look to string consecutive wins together when they travel to take on the IU Indy Jaguars on Thursday. The game will tip off at 6:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
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