An over five-minute second half scoring drought in the second half halted the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team winning streak at four.
The Norse led Illinois State 50-43 with 10:43 to play after a Michael Bradley jumper, but they’d go 5:04 without another point and the Redbirds going on a 12-0 run in that span.
Illinois State (6-3) eventually held on for a 62-59 victory.
Marques Warrick led the Norse with 15 points, Cade Meyer adding 10 off the bench. The Norse bench outscored the Rebirds bench 24-10, Bradley added eight points, Jeremiah Israel with six.
NKU (5-4) struggled from the field, hitting just 39% in the contest. They distributed the ball well with 17 assists on 22 made field goals with just eight turnovers.
It was a tight one throughout with 10 ties and 19 lead changes. Illinois State’s largest lead was six in the early stages of the first half, NKU’s seven-point edge in the second half their largest of the night.
The Norse had their chances late, trailing 62-59, Sam Vinson missed two free throws with 43 seconds to play while Warrick and Israel’s game-tying 3-point attempts were unsuccessful in the last 10 seconds.
NKU returns to action on Saturday when they host Akron at 7 p.m.
