Despite Detroit (0-18, 0-7) being winless on the season, it was a victory the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team desperately needed.
The Norse had suffered back-to-back overtime losses on the road and entered their Saturday contest with the Titans at 3-3 in conference play needing to get back into the thick of the Horizon League race.
They delivered with a 81-76 victory, ending the game on a 5-0 run over the final 2:08.
Four Norse hit double figures as LJ Wells and Trey Robinson led the way with 20 points each, Marques Warrick adding 16, Keeyan Itejere chipping in 14. Michael Bradley added seven points to go with six assists as the starting five accumulated 77 of the 81 Norse points. The bench combined to play just 27 minutes in the contest.
Wells’ point total was a career-high as he and Robinson combined to shoot 16-of-22 from the field. Warrick jumped up to the No. 4 spot in all-time scoring for the program as he currently sits at 1,930 career points. He entered the game sixth in program history and passed up Dan Doellman (1,920 points) and Richard Derskon (1,927 points). He needs just 51 points to move into third, 78 to take second and 137 to overtake Drew McDonald for most all-time in program history.
NKU (9-9, 4-3) dominated in the paint, outscoring Detroit 44-22 and won the rebounding battle 30-26.
The back and forth affair had 10 ties and seven lead changes. It ends the three-game road trip for the Norse and a span of six of their last seven games on the road, going 3-4 during that stretch.
The Norse return home on Thursday when they host Milwaukee at 7 p.m. NKU sits 1.5 games out of the top spot in the conference in a three-way tie for fifth.