As Marques Warrick summed it up, “It was a tale of two halves defensively.”
Youngstown State owned the first half, Northern Kentucky the second half as the Norse got the last bucket to fall in a 79-76 victory over the Penguins.
It was Warrick hitting the game-winner, his 3-pointer with 43 seconds left giving the Norse a 77-74 lead. Youngstown State’s DJ Burns and Warrick would trade two free throw makes from there, Brandon Rush’s 3-pointer in the waning seconds bouncing around the rim and out.
“We turned it around and fixed our mistakes, going back to what we’re supposed to do, what we worked on all week,” Warrick said. “In the second half made some plays offensively down the stretch. It was a team effort. Everybody came in, young guys chipped in off the bench. It was a big win.”
Through the first 20 minutes it didn’t look like it would be the Norse’s night. Youngstown State got pretty much what they wanted in pouring on 45 points with a 45-36 lead at the break. The Penguins led by as much as 16 and hit 9-of-15 shots from the 3-point line.
“We didn’t come out the way we wanted to guard and the way we played all week in practice,” Warrick said. “Had some mishaps and mistakes on defense. That’s why they got up 45 points in the first half.”
A switch flipped at the half and NKU came out with a purpose in the game’s final 20 minutes. Keeyan Itejere was aggressive in the paint with 12 second half points, catching lobs and making post moves that resulted in several dunks on the evening. His dunk on an assist from Michael Bradley, who had 11 of them with no turnovers, got the Norse within one at 60-59 with 9:31 to play.
Warrick followed with two free throws with 9:03 remaining to give NKU their first lead of the evening.
The chess match followed from there. The two would change leads five times down the stretch. Up three with nine seconds remaining, the Penguins had a chance to tie as they rushed the ball up the court out of a timeout, found Rush in the corner, but his triple did not fall.
“We wanted to foul and we didn’t get to it,” Norse coach Darrin Horn said. “They threw the pass from beyond halfcourt, LJ (Wells) got hung up on a screen and we were fortunate that didn’t go in.”
Itejere missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but by the time Youngstown State was able to corral the rebound, only .3 seconds remained, unable to get a final shot off after a timeout.
“Really, really proud of our guys effort and resolve in the second half,” Horn said. “Thought the second half we won the way we’re going to need to win by playing defense, getting loose balls and being on attack mode and aggressive on the offensive end.”
Warrick led the way with 29 points, hitting 9-of-16 from the field, 5-of-10 from three and 6-of-6 at the line. Itejere scored 19 points to go with nine rebounds.
Some nuggets from the game below:
Israel gets first career start
Freshman Jeremiah Israel was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time this season. Horn said it was based off matchups and Israel fit the mold of being able to match up with Youngstown State’s guards better. Israel played 21 minutes, scored five points and grabbed six rebounds.
“The biggest thing is competing and playing hard and that opens up for whatever else comes,” Israel said. “The biggest focus for me is just to continue to do the little things on defense or wherever and then the rest will come.”
Wells, Pettus have big moments off the bench
Horn called LJ Wells game “his best as a Norse” so far. The sophomore scored 12 points off the bench and grabbed three rebounds in 27 minutes of action Thursday. He had the highest +/- of anyone on the team at +12.
“Young guys played really well and played aggressive. I think that kind of comes from how we practiced this past week,” Wells said. “That just allowed our guys to play consistently at a high level and made good plays.”
Randall Pettus hit a vital 3-pointer with 4:17 left to give the Norse a 70-69 lead. He didn’t hesitate when his number was called and delivered.
“Randall is not scared. He’s a confident kid. Even in the shots that he missed, he was trying to make something happen and we really like that about him. More importantly, he’s really solid defensively because he’s really strong and quick,” Horn said.
Dynes returns home to NKY
There was a loud roar behind the media table after a Gabe Dynes dunk, which happened to be the Simon Kenton basketball team and coaches. Dynes, a Simon Kenton grad is in his freshman season with Youngstown State and was the first player off the bench for the Penguins on Thursday. Dynes logged 17 minutes of action, scoring four points, grabbing a rebound and blocking two shots.
Dynes came into Thursday night’s contest leading the Horizon League with 3.3 blocks per game in Horizon League matchups.
More familiar faces
Former NKU players Bryson Langdon and Imanuel Zorgvol are with Youngstown State via the transfer portal. Langdon is a starter, playing 25 minutes and scoring 10 points with four turnovers. Zorgvol played two minutes and scored on a dunk in the closing seconds of the first half.
Is Highland Heights the new Lob City?
The amount of alley oops in the game was pretty high. Itejere caught a few, LJ Wells catching one as well. With Itejere, it’s pretty much a nightly occurence now, the 6-foot-9 forward with a 36-inch vertical.
“It’s part of my kit of what I’m expected to do when I go on the floor,” Itejere said. “Just continuing to go a little stronger to the basket on the lobs and finish through contact and something I need to continue working on.”
Learning how to play without Sam Vinson
Horn and the team will need some time to figure things out without Sam Vinson, the junior guard out for the season with a torn ACL suffered during the Saint Mary’s contest on Dec. 21. It was the second game without Vinson’s services and will be a work in progress to fill the void his injury leaves.
“It’s gonna be a process. It really is. I mean, the guy played 37 minutes a game,” Horn said. “He’s ultra important in everything that we do. Crucial on the offensive in terms of ball handling, with the way we play, or want to play. And I thought our guys came out and looked a little unsure early on and we weren’t aggressive defensively.”
Vinson was averaging 13.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 steals before the injury.
Around the league
Robert Morris beat IUPUI 92-48, Oakland defeated Milwaukee 100-95, Green Bay shut down Detroit 69-51 and Wright State knocked off Cleveland State 82-70. Purdue Fort Wayne is the lone unbeaten left in the Horizon League at 4-0. Green Bay is currently alone in second at 4-1 while NKU sits alone in third at 3-1. Cleveland State and Oakland are tied for third at 3-2, Youngstown State, Wright State and Milwaukee tied at 2-2. Robert Morris and IUPUI are 1-4, Detroit in last at 0-5.
Next up
NKU is back on the road for three straight conference tilts. They start on Sunday at Cleveland State at 4 p.m. before heading to Oakland and Detroit next week (Jan. 10 and Jan. 13).
By the time that stretch is over, the Norse will have played six of their last seven on the road. The bright side to that is six of seven at home follows from Jan. 18 to Feb. 10.
“Feels like this happens every year. Last year it was six out of seven again. We’ve got a new scheduling model that’s supposed to fix some of that stuff so not only do we have four out five on the road, but three games on the road in seven days. Is what it is, our guys got to get ready for a good Cleveland State team,” Horn said.