NKyTribune staff
The Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team is headed to the 2017 Little Caesar’s Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship game after earning an 84-74 win over the No. 9 seed Youngstown State Penguins in the semifinals on Monday night at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
The No. 4-seed Norse are looking to advance to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament in their first year of eligibility.
The winner of the Horizon League Tournament, which has been dubbed Motor City Madness, gets an automatic berth to March Madness.
Northern Kentucky led the whole way and improves to 23-10 overall. The Norse will take on the No. 10 seed Milwaukee Panthers, who defeated the sixth-seeded UIC Flames 74-68 in the late game Monday.
Newport Central Catholic and Cold Spring’s Drew McDonald paced the Norse with 26 points and nine rebounds.
UIC finished its season 15-18.
While the Norse may seem to have an advantage over the Panthers who are 11-23 overall and lost nine in a row entering the tournament, Milwaukee won three straight to make the finals.
No team, however, has ever made it to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament with as many as 23 losses in the regular season.
The Panthers are the first 10 seed in Horizon League history to advance to the tournament finals and defeated NKU 68-58 in Milwaukee January 12. The Norse avenged that loss with a hard-fought 69-63 win at NKU February 11.
Still, good fortune seems to be on the side of the Norse, who saw the top three seeds fall early in the tournament. NKU defeated No. 5 Wright State to advance to the semifinals.
The Championship game is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday and will air nationwide on ESPN.
STAT LEADERS
- Drew McDonald had 12 points in his first eight minutes and posted 17 points and four rebounds in the first half alone. The sophomore posted 26 total points and was a rebound shy of a double-double. Four of his 10 field goals were 3-pointers.
- Lavone Holland II registered 20 points, including 12 in the second half. Holland also dished out three assists and recorded three steals.
- Mason Faulkner was the third and final Norse in double-figures with 10 points to go along with three assists.
- Dantez Walton put together a complete game with eight points, six rebounds and two assists. He knocked down a clutch three-pointer from the corner with just under two minutes on the clock to help NKU seal the game
TURNING POINT
- Northern Kentucky ended the first half on a 12-2 run to hold a 42-27 halftime lead. Back-to-back 3-pointers from McDonald and Cole Murray helped fuel the run.
- The closest Youngstown State would get throughout the remainder of the game was within five points with 2:21 left in the game.
- Five-straight points including Walton’s triple and pair of free-throws from Holland restored NKU’s double-figure advantage with 36 seconds left as NKU closed out the victory.
FIRST HALF SUMMARY
- NKU used the perimeter to speed out to an 8-2 advantage with triples from McDonald and Holland in the first two minutes.
- McDonald dropped 12 points in the first eight minutes as NKU held a 22-14 advantage with 11:17 remaining in the half.
- Holland sparked an 8-1 Norse run with a layup at the 9:24 mark. A Jordan Garnett triple capped it off and put Northern Kentucky ahead, 30-19 as the NKU defense held the Penguins scoreless for three minutes.
- Six-straight points from YSU brought them back within five at 30-25 with 4:47 left in the period.
- NKU closed the half on a 12-2 run over the final 4:19, holding Youngstown State scoreless for the final three minutes, to lead by 15 at the half, 42-27.
- Northern Kentucky shot 46.9 percent from the floor in the opening period to YSU’s 31.4 percent.
SECOND HALF SUMMARY
- Youngstown State opened the second half on a 9-0 run to cut the Norse lead to 42-36 with 17:09 left.
- A Holland triple and Faulkner layup on a fast break pushed the Norse lead back to double-figures at 47-36 with 16:22 on the clock.
- NKU’s lead hovered around the double-digit mark and extended to a game-high tying 15 point advantage when the Norse scored six uninterrupted points to lead 58-53 with 7:22 left.
- YSU then rode a 15-7 run from the 7:24 mark to the 3:36 mark to come within seven at 75-68. The Penguins then pulled within five with 2:21 to play but Walton triple pushed NKU’s lead back out to eight with 1:38 to play as the Norse held on for the win.
GAME NOTES
- The Norse are 18-3 when at least one player reaches 20 points or more in a game.
- Holland has 53 points and 21 assists in the last three games. Further, the junior has 91 points and 33 assists across the last five contests.
- McDonald registered his team-leading 13th 20-point+ scoring performance.
- NKU’s bench out-scored Youngstown State’s reserves 24-3. Additionally, NKU posted 18 second-chance points to YSU’s six.
- The Norse won the rebounding battle by a narrow 37-36 margin as they improve to 20-5 when out-rebounding their opponent.
Northern Kentucky University media services contributed to this story