Courtesy of NKUNorse.com
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – A gutsy Norse rally down the stretch came up short, as Northern Kentucky fell on the road to Wright State, 67-64.
Facing a 13-point deficit with 9:08 left in the game, Northern Kentucky (9-18, 5-11 Horizon) turned the game around.
It started with seven-straight points that began with five from Cole Murray and concluded with two from Todd Johnson.
Tyler White later went on a personal 7-1 run that included an unconventional four-point play to get NKU within four, 60-56, with six minutes left.
Following a Wright State (17-12, 11-5 Horizon) layup from Joe Thomasson, Jake Giesler converted the old-fashioned three-point play. Another Wright State layup came before a 5-1 Norse run in which White scored four more points pulled NKU within a point, 64-65, with 44 seconds left.
Northern Kentucky came up with the stop it needed when Giesler picked off JT Yoho’s pass in the lane with just 17 ticks on the clock.
White raced up the right sideline, but Thomasson was able to deflect the ball and come away with the steal. He was fouled and converted both to make it a three-point game.
White’s three as the horn sound hit the back flange of the rim and skirted just over the front.
White finished with a game-high 21 points. He also had a team-high four rebounds. Murray and Drew McDonald finished with 11 points apiece.
McDonald capped a 7-2 run to close the opening stanza with a layin just before the buzzer, but Northern Kentucky trailed 32-27 at the break. McDonald led all scorers at intermission with 10.
Michael Karena scored 17 points to lead Wright State. Grant Benzinger added 16 and Thomasson registered 10 points and eight boards.
One road trip remains in the regular-season for the Norse, a jaunt to Northern Ohio for a pair of Horizon League games at Cleveland State and Youngstown State on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Northern Kentucky then makes its first appearance in the Little Caesar’s Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship on March 5.
Norse Notes
· White’s 20-point performance was his sixth of the season and second in the last three games.
· Murray entered the game shooting 47.2 percent from three –which ranks seventh in the nation – and put forth a 3-for-6 effort.
· Dean Danos knocked down 3-of-4 attempts, including both of his three-point attempts. He is now 21-of-39 (53.8 percent) on the year.
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