Marques Warrick got himself something “real nice” for his 21st birthday on Thursday, sinking a 30-foot shot as the final horn sounded to give Northern Kentucky a 57-56 win over Cleveland State in front of his home fans at Truist Arena.
The game-winning bucket led off ESPN’s Sportscenter with Scott Van Pelt in a show-opening segment called, “The Best Thing I Saw Today.”
“Probably the best birthday I’ve ever had, honestly,” said Warrick, who had a game-high 19 points, going 6-of-8 from the field, 4-of-5 from three and 3-of-4 at the free-throw line.
Warrick had just gone to the line with nine seconds left and his Norse trailing by three. Warrick sunk them both. With 7.2 seconds left, Sam Vinson fouled Cleveland State’s Tristan Enaruna. He missed the first, but sunk the second to put the Vikings up 56-54.
NKU head man Darrin Horn had called a timeout following Warrick’s makes at the charity stripe to go over the plan.
“The call was for me to take it out and go for the trail three,” Warrick said. “I fumbled the ball, I was going to pump fake anyway, but fumbled it and just hit it.”
Warrick got the ball to Vinson on the final out-of-bounds play.
“I think the thing that goes overlooked in those situations, everybody’s going to talk about the shot that (Warrick) made, which was fantastic, but it doesn’t happen if (Vinson) doesn’t execute it right and get the ball to him,” Horn said. “You really got to get an angle and try to get downhill a little bit so you can flip that back, which gives (Warrick) enough of an opening, even though it’s a little deep, for him to be able to get that shot. So, great execution by (Vinson) and then (Warrick) to make the shot.”
Vinson gave his perspective of the game-winner.
“We just rep that in practice, late game. We got multiple plays we can run late game, make or miss. So, when (Enaruna) made (the free throw), I knew I had to cut across, get the ball, and I only had seven seconds to get it over halfcourt. Just going fast, and I had to drive to close (Warrick’s) man a little bit and pitch it back and get him an open shot. And when I pitched it back, he knocked it down,” Vinson said.
Vinson’s effort, not only on the final play, but in the final minutes was clutch. The Vikings led 48-45 when Vinson knocked down a three with 2:09 remaining. Following a huge defensive rebound by Xavier Rhodes, Vinson then gave the Norse the lead with a drive and layup with 1:37 to go. After a Deante Johnson dunk on the other end, Vinson tied the score once more on a layup in transition with 1:06 to play.
“The bottom line is we made some plays late when we needed to,” Horn said. “Sam (Vinson) was terrific in that stretch. I don’t know if it was three straight possessions, but I know it was three straight baskets, which was huge. Whether they went in or not, to see him play with that kind of confidence, you know, this guy’s a difference maker for us when he does that. And we need him to do it.”
Vinson finished with 16 points, three rebounds and five assists to one turnover – on a night when NKU committed 22 turnovers. The Vikings had 16 steals. Despite that, the Norse led this game for 25 minutes and 15 seconds. They also got outrebounded 39-28, including 19 offensive rebounds for Cleveland State, which resulted in 18 second-chance points to NKU’s three on 10 offensive boards.
NKU got off to a nice start, taking a 15-8 lead into the media timeout at the 13:23 mark of the first half. Cleveland State responded with a 13-0 run to go up 21-15. Warrick changed things quickly with back-to-back threes to tie the game at 21-21 with 4:34 left. NKU closed the half on a 12-4 run to take a 27-25 lead into the locker room.
The Norse carried that momentum over into the second half. Chris Brandon caught an alley-oop from Trevon Faulkner for a slam. Brandon then forced a turnover and threw ahead to Warrick for a runout dunk to make it 33-27 Norse.
The game went into a bit of a lull after that. NKU went 6:19 without a field goal, scoring only a single point on a made free throw. Fortunately for the Norse, CSU only countered with five points during that stretch. Warrick broke the drought with a three to extend NKU’s lead to 37-32 with 9:38 to play.
Cleveland State hadn’t led since 23-22 with 3:47 to go in the first half, until a free throw put the Vikings in front 40-39 with 5:23 to go in the game – and they didn’t trail again until Vinson’s bucket with 1:06 to play.
“You got to try to find a way to win, and our guys did that tonight,” Horn said. “We’re really proud of how we defended and competed, especially down the stretch when we needed to in a game that was really ugly both ways offensively because both teams are so good and aggressive on the defensive end.”
Warrick found a way to get the Norse to 7-2 in Horizon League play and 12-8 overall.
“Happy birthday, by the way,” NKU head man Darrin Horn said to Warrick during the postgame media conference.
Horn explained that his wife usually makes a treat for players celebrating a birthday, but Warrick will have to wait for his.
“His cake is late because our oven is broken. Miss Carla always makes them a chocolate chip pound cake, but our oven is broken. So, it’s coming late this time,” Horn said.
NKU returns to action Saturday, hosting Purdue-Fort Wayne at 6 p.m.