Nearly a year ago to the day, the Northern Kentucky’s men’s basketball team immediately built the mindset of getting back to the point where it ended last year.
They’re now there as the Norse (21-12) won their Horizon League conference tournament semifinal matchup over No. 1 seed Youngstown State, 75-63 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.
The win over the regular season champs gets them to their fifth title game since joining the Horizon in 2015.
Trevon Faulkner, Marques Warrick, Sam Vinson, Chris Brandon and Trey Robinson will have their shot at redemption with yet another trip to the NCAA tournament on the line. Last season the Norse ended up on the wrong end of a 72-71 defeat to Wright State, denying them a fourth conference tournament championship in the eight-year span of being in the league.
Tuesday’s opponent happens to be Cleveland State, a team the Norse are very familiar with in one-point games this season. The Norse defeated the Vikings 57-56 on Jan. 19 and lost to them in Cleveland on Feb. 19, 64-63.
On Monday, NKU built a 15-point halftime lead and stretched it to as much as 22, Sam Vinson’s 3-pointer giving the Norse a 47-25 lead with 17:35 to play. Despite a cold shooting night at 37% from the field, the Norse committed just three turnovers and held a 21-5 edge in points off turnovers.
The shooting woes started to catch up to the Norse, an eight minute spell in which the Penguins went on an 18-5 run to get within four at 57-53 with 4:44 to play. Despite some struggles throughout the season in closing out big leads, NKU’s free throw shooting in the last 3:26 was 14-of-16 to get them into Tuesday’s championship at 7 p.m.
Warrick led the Norse with 22 points, Sam Vinson adding 17 and Xavier Rhodes chipping in 12. The big story wasn’t Chris Brandon’s eight points, but 17 rebounds, 10 of them on the offensive end for 17 second-chance points. The Norse hit just 3-of-17 from three, but got to the line 38 times, successful on 28 of the attempts.
Youngstown State (24-9) entered as the top seed, finishing 15-5 in league play during the regular season. They had some buzz surrounding the program with a potential first-ever berth to the NCAA tournament.
Former Norse Adrian Nelson had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, Dwayne Cohill finishing with 16 and Malek Green 10. Youngstown State’s 45-30 halftime deficit was met with a 9-of-23 performance from the field.
NKU’s experience and hunger proved vital in this one, determined to get to Tuesday night for a right to the Big Dance. The matchup will be televised on ESPN.
The Norse made the NCAA tournament in 2017 and ’19, also winning the 2020 title but the tournament canceled because of the COVID pandemic. A title on Tuesday would be Darrin Horn’s second in his four seasons with the team.
