By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Down 17 points – and two starters – NKU’s Norse pulled off the improbable Thursday in Dayton, rallying to reserve themselves a spot in their fourth straight Horizon League semifinals in Indianapolis Monday with a 99-97 win over a Wright State team that had beaten NKU twice this season.
How did NKU do it, how did the Norse come back from its horrendous 17-2 deficit to start the game at Wright State’s Nutter Center and survive?
Start with senior Marques Warrick, whose 35 points gives him 74 in five days in this building. He hit four of six three-point attempts and all nine free throws to add another NKU career scoring record to his name.
With 35 points Thursday, NKU’s Marques Warrick did it again to Wright State as he did here with 39 points Saturday. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
“Nobody out here can guard me,” Marques said in his soft voice on the postgame radio interview. “My offensive mind is stronger than they are.”
For the second straight , it was. Warrick hit for 39 points against Wright State Saturday here. “I can’t say enough about our seniors,” Horn said with a nod to Trey Robinson, who recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds as he battled the bigger Wright State front line all night. Grad student point guard Michael Bradley also scored 17 for the Norse.
After a 33-point first half, NKU’s 56-point second half didn’t hurt a bit, even though “we’re playing with half a team,” NKU Coach Darrin Horn said with Sam Vinson out for the season with ACL surgery and Keeyan Itejere having had no live action before Horn was forced to insert the 6-foot-9 post player into the game.
And still, NKU rallied for that big second half in front of the Nutter crowd of 4,725. Although this wasn’t anything new, Warrick said. “We kept fighting . . . Our whole team knew we could do it. We flipped the script on them . . . I love our fight . . . This is a true test of us.”
It’s a test NKU passed. And the Norse are now going to NKU’s fourth straight Horizon semifinals.
NKU senior Trey Robinson, with another double-double, starred again against a bigger Wright State front line (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
March isn’t about the scoreboard, Horn said, “March is about doing whatever it takes.” Which is what the Norse did. “You win with defense and rebounding.”
“We had two freshmen in there,” Horn said. “We didn’t have a choice. We were playing with half a team.” And when the injured Itejere, who has been in a boot for his ankle the last 10 days or so, was in the game for 16 minutes, they were playing with a center who had only half of his two legs to play on.
“Keeyan was literally playing on one leg,” said Horn, who wasn’t sure if he could go since “he hadn’t had any live action. “But I didn’t have a choice.” And a limping Itejere, with three points and two rebounds, didn’t give in.
NKU also won with 53.7 percent (36 of 67) shooting, which sustained that terrific second-half run. But the Norse also did it in the first half, coming back from 17 points down with five minutes left in the first half to just seven down at intermission, 40-33.
And did so with freshman Randall Pettus scoring 16 points after “not being able to get off the bench just a couple of months ago,” Horn said.
“Did you expect then he’d be capable of scoring 16 points in a playoff game at Wright State?” Horn asked. Didn’t matter what anyone thought then, it’s what Pettus is doing now. “He’s not afraid,” Horn said.
Improbably, NKU (18-14, 13-8 Horizon) will play Milwaukee, the sixth seed, on Monday after Milwaukee’s upset of Green Bay Thursday. Fifth-seed NKU split with Milwaukee in the regular season, winning 90-72 at NKU and losing, 73-72, at Milwaukee, Feb. 22. The first semifinal Monday (7 p.m.) will feature No. 1 seed Oakland against No. 7 Cleveland State, both teams that NKU has beaten in the regular season.
NKU will play the second game of a Monday night doubleheader at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum, tipping off at 9:30 p.m. and telecast on ESPN2.
SCORING SUMMARY
NORTHERN KENTUCKY 33 56 10–99
WRIGHT STATE 40 49 8–97
WRIGHT STATE (18-14, 13-8 Horizon)
NORTHERN KENTUCKY (18-14, 13-8 Horizon): Warrick 11-18 4-6 9-9 35, Robinson 6-13 1-3 4-7 17, Bradley 7-12 1-3 2-2 17, Pettus 7-12 2-6 0-2 16, Wells 2-8 0-1 2-2 6, Israel 2-3 1-2 0-0 5, Itejere 1-2 0-0 1-2 3; TOTALS: 36-67 9-21 18-24 99.
WRIGHT STATE (18-14, 13-8 Horizon): Tanner 9-15 3-4 3-5 24, Huibregste 9-16 2-6 0-0 20, Calvin 7-16 2-7 4-5 20, Braun 5-10 0-0 8-11 18, Noel 5-13 0-3 0-0 10, Welage 1-1 1-1 0-0 3, Woods 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Carter 0-0 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 37-72 8-21 15-21 97.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.
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