Marques Warrick did it again. Problem was, it was to tie the game and not put the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team ahead.
Warrick’s step back 3-pointer banked in at the buzzer in regulation to tie the game with Cleveland State at 74. The Norse would go on to lose however, 88-85 in overtime as Warrick put up another shot to tie it, but this time it was blocked by the Vikings’ Tevin Smith.
The loss drops NKU to 8-8 and 3-2 in the Horizon League. They nearly pulled off a second straight game where they trailed by double-digits to eventually come back to win. On Thursday, they rallied from a 16-point deficit to defeat Youngstown State. On Sunday, the Norse trailed by 11 with 13:18 to play before mounting their comeback.
A Warrick triple with 6:13 to play capped off a 21-7 Norse run to give them a 58-55 advantage. Cleveland State regrouped with a 10-2 run to take a 65-60 lead with 3:25 to play.
The Norse didn’t tie it up again until Warrick’s triple at the buzzer.
NKU had to play catch up again in the overtime, falling down as much as six with 2:48 to go. It took the Norse 1:14 to tie it up, Michael Bradley’s jumper knotting the game at 81 with 1:34 remaining. A Smith dunk followed by another Bradley jumper made it 83-all with 51 seconds to play.
Jayson Woodrich’s 3-pointer with 13 seconds to go in the overtime proved to be the winner. Warrick and Woodrich traded two free throw makes from there, Warrick’s 3-pointer as the horn sounded blocked by Smith.
The Norse were led by Warrick’s 30 points as he hit all 13 free throw attempts and dished out four assists. Bradley added 15 points with four assists, Keeyan Itejere filling the stat sheet with 14 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. Trey Robinson just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. LJ Wells added seven points with nine rebounds in 34 minutes of action off the bench. Jeremiah Israel chipped in five points in his second start of the season. Warrick and Bradley logged 42 minutes in the contest, Robinson with 41 and Itejere.
Sixteen turnovers plagued NKU to just 11 assists and were outrebounded 47-37 in which they were outscored 21-11 in second chance points. After a slow start from the field in the first half hitting 7-of-20 shots, the Norse hit 17-of-31 in the second half.
The Norse will head north to Michigan for their next two contests. At Oakland on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and at Detroit on Saturday at 1 p.m.