This one wasn’t kind to the eyes. Not if you were there, not if you were watching on ESPNU. Not even in the box score.
Ugly is the easiest way to describe Purdue-Fort Wayne’s 63-58 victory over the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team.
A combined 38 turnovers, 32 fouls and loose balls all over the place. The game just didn’t have much flow and that’s how the Mastodons like it.
“They were the aggressor on both ends from start to finish and did the little things to win a game like this and we didn’t,” Norse coach Darrin Horn said. “We did not play to our identity to be our best.”
The Norse were successful for the most part on the defensive end, forcing 19 turnovers and holding PFW to 40% shooting, but the offensive end was anything but a success as they equaled with 19 turnovers and shot 35% in an opportunity missed for the Norse to stay near the top of the Horizon League standings.
“They stole one from us,” Norse guard Marques Warrick said. “We really wanted this one to feel good going on the road to face a good Youngstown State team. Just didn’t play good offensively, had a couple of mishaps on defense.”
Warrick led the Norse with 27 points, bringing his career total to 1,999 points and moving into third all time on the program’s scoring list. He had a shot late to clear 2,000, but his game-tying 3-point attempt came up short in the closing seconds, the Norse battling back from a seven-point deficit with less than two minutes remaining.
The downfall happened well before that.
An over six-minute stretch with just a Warrick 3-pointer to show for the Norse in the first half put them in a hole they fought from for the majority of the night.
“Thank goodness for Marques Warrick because that game could have really got out of hand,” Horn said. “The thing that makes him special is he’s the same every single day (despite chasing the record). He looked like a guy that was playing to win the game tonight and not go get the record. That’s what’s been so impressive about what he’s done is the consistency has been by and large phenomenal over a four-year period.”
Warrick’s triple with 6:01 left in the first half broke a near five-minute scoring drought, problem was they didn’t get another point until a Jeremiah Israel free throw with 2:54 left in the half to make it 27-21 Mastodons. PFW would take a 29-25 lead into halftime.
The Mastodons stretched their lead to 10 in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Norse battled back to take a 43-41 lead on a Warrick dunk with 10:52 remaining in the contest. Four ties and three lead changes took place from there.
Two vital possessions came after the under four-minute media timeout. PFW holding a 51-50 lead, corralled an offensive rebound and Jalen Jackson made them pay with a 3-pointer with 2:54 to play. After the Norse’s fourth straight empty possession, Rasheed Bello hit what felt like the dagger, a triple with 2:01 to play and a Mastodons 57-50 lead.
The Norse were able to get within three at 59-56 with 33 seconds to play, Quinton Morton-Robertson missing the front end of a one-and-one to give the Norse a shot to tie it. Warrick’s 3-point attempt came up short, leaving the Norse at 6-4 in conference play midway through the Horizon League slate.
“The biggest challenge is can we understand who we have to be individually as a team to play our best,” Horn said. “We were doing that and started to make some progress and we didn’t do that at all tonight. Got nothing from the interior, had 19 turnovers, bit uncharacteristic of us. Can we get back to going who we need to be. We’re our biggest challenge first compared to worry about who we’re playing next.”
Jackson led PFW with 17 points and nine rebounds, Morton-Robertson with 15 points and three assists while Anthony Roberts chipped in 10 points.
Some additional takeaways:
Warrick Watch
As mentioned, Warrick’s 27 points gets him to 1,999 career points, surpassing Brady Jackson (1,980 points) for third all-time on the Norse scoring list. Next up is Craig Sanders (2,007 points) with the all-time record set by Drew McDonald (2,066 points) just 67 points away. Warrick should pass Sanders on Sunday at Youngstown State and assuming he hits his 19.5 points per game average, the Norse have three straight home games against Wright State (Feb. 4), Oakland (Feb. 8) and Detroit (Feb. 10) for a chance to do it in front of the home crowd.
“I knew I was close to 2,000. I thought of it yesterday, but today I was locked in on the game and trying to win. Winning is above all, but definitely still in the back of my mind,” Warrick said.
Meyer and Pettus solid off the bench
Cade Meyer and Randall Pettus II gave the Norse a lift off the bench, Meyer going 4-of-4 from the field with nine points, two rebounds and a blocked shot in 12 minutes of action.
“We knew they were a smaller team in the league so I just tried to be physical and use my size to get around the rim,” Meyer said. “My mindset was to be physical and use my size.”
Pettus played a season-high 30 minutes, also scoring nine points and hitting all four free throw attempts while adding five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
“Just wanted to be aggressive at all times and stay disciplined,” Pettus said. “Wanted to do whatever I could to help the team win, but it wasn’t enough tonight.”
Not Much Elsewhere
Outside of Warrick, Meyer and Pettus, the rest of the team combined for 13 points on 5-of-25 shooting. No one else had more than four points. This was a contest where it really felt like they missed Sam Vinson to provide not only complementary scoring to Warrick, but another guard to handle the Mastodons pressure.
“They’ve been playing with great physical toughness, but that didn’t happen tonight with the exception of Cade,” Horn said of his inside play on the night.
PFW Sweep
The Mastodons earned a season sweep of the Norse and will hold any head-to-head tiebreakers at the end of the season if the two are in a two-way tie. They defeated NKU in Fort Wayne back on Dec. 29, 73-60.
Around the League
It was a busy night in the Horizon League with five matchups. Outside of the contest at Truist Arena, Youngstown State won at IUPUI, 78-50, Wright State knocked off Cleveland State on the road in overtime, 107-99, Green Bay defeated Oakland at home, 69-59 and Milwaukee defended their home court with a 87-71 victory over Detroit.
As far as the standings go, Green Bay sits alone at the top at 8-3, Youngstown State and Oakland are tied for second at 7-3, Wright State and NKU are tied for fourth at 6-4, Milwaukee is in fifth at 5-4, Fort Wayne and Cleveland State are tied for seventh at 5-5, Robert Morris is in ninth at 4-5, IUPUI 10th at 2-9 and Detroit in the cellar at 0-10. Earning a top five seed is crucial come conference tournament time because it gives you a first round bye and means you’d only have to win three games instead of four to punch a ticket into the NCAA tournament. A top four seed is important as well, earning a right for a home game in the first round of the conference tournament before the semifinals and championship shifts to Indianapolis.
Next Up
The Norse head to Northeast Ohio to take on a Youngstown State team looking to avenge an earlier season loss to the Norse, NKU with a 79-76 victory on Jan. 4. NKU rallied from a 16-point first half deficit to win that one. It will be a tough task for the Norse, the Penguins 10-1 at home this season while the Norse are 3-8 away from Highland Heights.