The Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team hosted the Lipscomb Bisons in its first postseason game in the NCAA Division I era, and despite 19 points from Tyler White, NKU dropped a 76-73 decision in Regents Hall.
NKU placed five players in double digits. In addition to White’s game-high points total, Jalen Billups finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Tayler Persons, Todd Johnson and Cole Murray each added 11 points for the Norse. Persons dished out a team-high five assists as the Norse went 27-for-61 (.443) from the floor, including 11-for-23 (.478) from 3-point range.
Lipscomb, which improved to 14-16, went 23-for-47 (.489) and 6-for-19 (.316) from beyond the arc. Top scorers included Martin Smith with 13 points, followed by Josh Williams with 12 points and five rebounds. Nathan Moran rounded out the double-figure scorers, adding 11 for the Bisons.
Free throws ended up being the difference as Lipscomb made twice as many appearances at the line than the Norse, going 24-for-35 (.686) from the stripe compared to NKU’s 8-for-16 (.500).
A steal on the opening possession set up a 3-point field goal for White to get the game started for NKU at the 19:36 mark. The Bisons responded a little over a minute later to tie the game at 3-all.
Both teams matched point-for-point in the first eight minutes of the half. A layup for Brett Wishon with nine minutes remaining gave the Bisons a 15-11 advantage, but a triple by Cole Murray tied the game at 16-all with 8:04 left in the half. Three free throws for Lipscomb opened up slight lead, but Persons answered with a field goal to bring it down to within one.
Jake Giesler hit a layup and connected on the and-one free throw gave the Norse a two-point (21-19) lead with six minutes remaining. On the next trip down the court, though, the game was tied once again on a layup by George Brammeier.
A 12-2 run, sparked by another trey by Murray and five points by Persons, gave the Norse a 31-23 lead with 2:58 remaining in the opening stanza.
The Bisons answered with three-straight triples to pull Lipscomb to within one, 35-34, at the 1:29 mark.
Todd Johnson and Lipscomb’s Moran had matching three-point plays in the final moments of the half, but the Norse maintained the lead going into the locker room, 38-37.
Neither team scored in the opening two minutes of the second half until free throws by Talbott Denny followed by a tip-in by Brammeier to give the Bisons a 41-38 lead with 17:06 on the clock. The first field goal for the Norse came off the short-range jumper by Chad Jackson at the 16:18 mark to tie the game at 41-all.
A trey by White gave the Norse a slight lead, 46-43, less than two minutes later, but a triple by Lipscomb regained the lead at 47-46 with 13:42 left in the second half. Todd Johnson answered with a trey, kicking off a stint of Norse threes to give NKU a 55-48 with just under 12 minutes to play in the second stanza.
A drought for the Norse spanned the next four and a half minutes, and the Bisons were able to tie the game until a put-back bucket by Jalen Billups at the 7:19 mark gave NKU a 57-55 lead. Chad Jackson followed with a layup to extend the lead, but Lipscomb continued to make frequent appearances at the charity stripe.
White was not deterred, though, coming down to the other end of the court and converting from long range to make it 62-57 with 6:07 left. A 5-0 run by the Bisons tied the game once again at 62-62 with 4:23 remaining.
A strong inside play by Billups gave NKU a three-point (65-62) lead going in to the final two minutes, but he was matched with a conventional three-point play by Denny who tied it shortly after.
Chad Lang converted a layup on the next Lipscomb possession and was followed by a free throw from JC Hampton to give the Bisons a three-point (68-65) lead with 33.9 seconds left. White sent the game into overtime for NKU when he drained a long-range triple with a man in his face with six ticks left to bring the score at 68-all at the end of regulation.
The first points converted in the extra time did not come until a layup by Denny with 3:01 to go, but White was able to make a layup on the following Norse possession to tie the game at 70-all less than 30 seconds later. Another trey by White gave NKU the lead back at 73-70 with 1:43 left to play.
Free throws at the other end of the court by Hampton tightened the game before a basket by Williams gave Lipscomb a 74-73 lead with 37 seconds to go. Lang converted both free-throw attempts with 3.8 seconds to go to seal the game.
Lipscomb finished with a 37-33 edge in rebounds and blocked seven NKU shot attempts.
NKU finished its third season as a D-I program with a 13-17 overall record and a 7-7 mark in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The 13 wins set a new Division I victory benchmark for the Norse as Persons was named the Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year and Billups earned a spot on the All-Atlantic Sun second team.
From NKU Athletics