Corteva Coliseum was busy on a Sunday afternoon, and it wasn’t just because a Brazilian jiujitsu competition and a gun and knife show was happening at the Indiana Fairgrounds. Green Bay and Northern Kentucky faced off in the second round of the Horizon League Tournament.
While the Phoenix triumphed in the two regular-season contests against the Norse, NKU was ready for the fight after upsetting Oakland in the first round. Green Bay had a slightly easier time in the opening round, fending off Purdue Fort Wayne to advance.
After starting the game absolutely frigid, especially from beyond the three-point line, the Norse found their stroke, scoring the nets inside and outside, then clamping down defensively to beat the Phoenix easily, 96-76, and advance to Monday’s semifinals match-up against rival Wright State.
“I thought the key to the game was we got off to a horrid start offensively, in terms of making shots or finishing,” said Northern Kentucky head coach Darrin Horn. “But we were playing well in terms of getting the right shots. We didn’t let that affect us on the defensive end, and we didn’t let it affect us offensively, and a lot of times in these in these situations, that that could really be tough.”
“Obviously, I’m disappointed. I thought that we’re a better team than they played,” said Green Bay head coach Doug Gottlieb. “Congrats to Northern Kentucky. They were the better team today.”
Indeed, the Norse offense was stuck in neutral for the first 10 minutes of the game, as the Phoenix rattled off seven straight points before LJ Wells finally got NKU on the board with a pair of free throws. Before the Norse got hot, it was Wells, the senior forward, who kept them close, with six of his game-high 26 coming when the rest of the team had trouble hitting the shots.
“It’s very important to be the one to look to,” said Wells. “I’ve been here for four years, so, I kind of have to bring that poise and bring that leadership.”
As has gone when things go right for Northern Kentucky, defense slowly started turning into offense after CJ O’Hara stretched the Green Bay lead to 21-15, with the Norse eventually taking a 22-21 advantage on a Kael Robinson three-pointer.
Four straight points from Caden Wilkins helped the Phoenix retake the lead, 25-22, but then Robinson nailed a pair of threes, and Donovan Oday dropped a triple of his own, to allow NKU to overtake once again. And a third trey from Robinson would give the Norse a seven-point lead with 1:40 left in the half.
“We tried just about everything, and he got it going in the first half” Gottlieb said of Robinson’s flurry. “Two were on OBs when Marcus (Hall) was there. He just jumped up and made those shots.”
At the start of the second half, Wells and Robinson kept things going, when they each hit shots to stretch the Northern Kentucky lead to 42-32. At the 11-minute mark, thanks to another Robinson three-pointer, the Norse found themselves with an 18-point lead, and they were able to keep the Phoenix down until the end of the contest.
In addition to Wells, Robinson finished with 22 points, Dan Gherezgher scored 19 points, all in the second half, and Donovan Oday added 18 points for Northern Kentucky. After starting the game a paltry 1-for-11 from beyond the arc, the Norse ended the match-up 14 of 28, a 50% clip, which included a scorching 66.7% in the second half.
For the Phoenix, CJ O’Hara and Justin Allen each scored 18, and Preston Ruedinger chipped in 13, along with a game-high 10 assists.
“What we’ve been able to accomplish with our guys, you know, I just could be prouder of it,” Gottlieb said of his team, which improved significantly from four wins last season to 18. “The unfortunate thing about tournament play is oftentimes your season gets lost in it.”
For Northern Kentucky, the next step will be facing rival Wright State in the semifinals. The last time these two teams met, the Raiders raced back from a double-digit deficit to win on a Michael Imarigbe tip-in at the game’s close.
“The biggest thing for us is to me, this time of year we want to play well,” Horn said. “I think that starts with your team playing well, doing what they need to do. And obviously, they’re a very good team. They won our league. They beat us twice already. They got Dynamic guards. They can really make plays. They’ve got multiple bigs that are really good. And so, for us, you know, our first focus will be, how do we play well.”
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