For the second consecutive season, the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team can claim bragging rights over an in-state foe.

The Norse took down Eastern Kentucky University on Sunday, 85-75, winning their second straight and improving to 7-5 on the year.

NKU took 14-point leads in both the first and second halves. EKU (4-6) fought back within three in the second half, but the Norse closed on a 19-12 run in the final 6:33 of the contest.

Sam Vinson led the way with 17 points and seven rebounds, also dishing out four assists. Freshman Jeremiah Israel came off the bench to score 15 points in 15 minutes, hitting 5-of-6 shots and 3-of-3 from deep. Israel also pulled down five rebounds.

Trey Robinson added 14 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, Marques Warrick and Keeyan Itejere pouring in 12 points apiece. Michael Bradley had nine points and seven assists with no turnovers.

The Norse shot it well all-around, hitting 51% from the field, 8-of-16 from the 3-point line and 17-of-22 from the free throw line. The win was their second straight in the in-state series, improving to 4-2 over the Colonels since the Norse’s move to Division I.

NKU has their final non-conference game on Thursday at Saint Mary’s at 10 p.m.

Israel earns Freshman of the Week honors

Putting up a pair of solid performances off the bench earned Jeremiah Israel Under Armour Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors.

The Lloyd Memorial grad started off the Norse’s 2-0 week with 10 points, three rebounds and an assist in a 94-59 victory over University of the Cumberlands. He followed that up with a 15-point, five-rebound and one assist performance over EKU on Sunday.
 
Israel shot it well, knocking down 9-of-12 shots in the two games and 5-of-7 from the 3-point line. Over the two games, Israel averaged 12.5 points, four rebounds and an assist, doing so in 38 minutes of gameplay.
 
The 15-point performance against EKU was a career-high in points, also setting career highs in field goals made (five), 3-pointers made (three) and rebounds (five). He’s scored in double figures three times this season.
 
Israel is the second NKU student-athlete to earn a weekly conference honor so far this season as he joins Marques Warrick, who was named the Horizon League’s Player of the Week back on December 4. He is also the first Norse student-athlete to win the league’s Freshman of the Week award since December 19, 2022, when A’lahn Sumler did so.