By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
INDIANAPOLIS – If you didn’t know better, you’d have thought you were watching Houston’s top-ranked Cougars warming up.
But no, those were the Youngstown State Penguins, No. 1 in the Horizon League and awfully full of themselves even if they finished just a game ahead of the Northern Kentucky University Norse, a team they split the season series with.
The Penguins clearly felt they were on their way to Tuesday night’s championship game with an NCAA bid awaiting.
At the other end of the Indiana Farmers Coliseum court, NKU did not seem all that full of itself, not even a little bit although the Norse did bring a band here this year – a very good one — matching football school Youngstown’s.
But no cheering of pre-game dunks, no halfcourt shots from basketballs snapped like footballs. Not for the Norse.
Just a case of NKU being NKU. No Norseman mascot so the Penguin was out there alone. But there were six guys at courtside in those Norse helmets with horns and their shirts spelling out N-O-R-S-E-! who did win the tug-o-war against YSU fans so there’s that.
The Norse made it clear they were going to let their basketball do the talking for them in this Monday semifinal game, and they did, earning a berth against Cleveland State in the 7 p.m. ET championship game on ESPN and Fox Sports Radio 1360.
NKU (21-12, 15-6) is 3-1 in Horizon League championship games, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and 2019.
The Norse split the season series with Cleveland State, winning 57-56 at home, losing 64-63 in Cleveland.
Which, after all, is what this time of year is all about. One and out. How well the Norse know that. And as it turned out, that knowledge, that experience was a big part of NKU’s 75-63 win that some might call a slight upset over Youngstown State.
Which may be why those clown-around pregame moments were pretty much the last carefree times for the Penguins on this night as they toddled off back on the five-hour bus trip to Northeast Ohio with the words no regular-season winner ever wants to hear at the end of a tournament postgame press conference: “Good luck in the NIT, Coach.”
Because if there was one thing the NKU pregame seemed to say, it was simply “We got this.”
You can’t beat us off the dribble and we can beat you with our quickness as long as we stay aggressive. We’re going to double you, trap you, slap the ball out of your hands, get in your way, help out, hang tough, pound the boards and make your life unbearable as we get our shots, hit them the way we know we can, and move on.
Sounds like a plan. And through the first 23 minutes of this one, that could not have been more on the money with NKU ahead by an improbable 47-25 as Marques Warrick threw down 16 first-half points while Sam Vinson was just being Sam Vinson, making the right pass, getting the deflection, being in the right place at the right time.
Chris Brandon continued his “unbelievable” play, NKU Coach Darrin Horn called it, as a presence in the middle controlling the boards that had his coach saying, “he’s as good as anybody in college basketball at that.”
And point guard Xavier Rhodes just kept flying by Youngstown defenders as they tried to muscle him on the perimeter. Like the Road Runner cartoon hero.
And then it happened, as it did a year ago here in NKU’s championship game against Wright State.
Much as NKU’s Horn knew it would. “Youngstown State is too good,” he said, to stay down the whole game. No way NKU was just going to keep pounding the Penguins. So here they came. On a 10-1 run first, then another 9-0 run.
Uh oh, every NKU fan — and there were a bunch of them this year — in the building was thinking. Here we go again.
But the closest Youngstown got was 57-53 with 4:44 left. Then Warrick, who had been scoreless after intermission, knocked down six straight in less than a minute-and-a-half.
“They needed me to step up,” the junior guard from Lexington said simply. Which makes the case why this was not a year ago.
“The big difference this year is we believed in each other,” Warrick said. “We responded well every time (Youngstown made a run),” Vinson said.
“A maturity level,” produced this team’s “composure,” Horn said. This team has been through enough – last year here – and this year in games like that, both good and bad, to be able to handle it.
“I don’t know if our guys talk about that or not,” Horn said, “You’d have to ask them.” But here’s what he was talking about to them.
“Drive the ball, play through contact, be aggressive,” Horn told them. “Be aggressive on both sides of the ball,” Vinson added.
And be back here Tuesday. “That’s what we talk about a lot,” Horn said, “to be here in March.”
NKU’s big game and postseason experience was evident, Youngstown Coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “It’s a big deal, it’s huge. They lost a very tough game last year.”
There were two reasons why the Norse didn’t lose this year, Calhoun said. “Not a lot of teams play the defense NKU plays, it’s tough.” And it led to a 21-5 edge in points off turnovers.
“They were very active, swarming to the ball,” said YSU all-conference senior Dwayne Cohill, who scored 16 points. “It’s tough, we had bigger dreams, bigger hopes.”
Calhoun had one final comment: “The best thing NKU did was rebound the ball, they’re relentless. They do that and they’re a tough out.”
There you have it – “relentless” and “aggressive.” Play that way and you won’t go home with any regrets.
For the game, Warrick finished with 22 points, Vinson 17, Rhodes 12 and Brandon eight points with 17 rebounds. Trevon Faulkner came off the bench for nine points while Trey Robinson put up seven.
BOX SCORE
NORTHERN KENTUCKY 40 35–75
YOUNGSTOWN STATE 25 38–63
NORTHERN KENTUCKY (21-12, 15-6): Warrick 22, Vinson 17, Rhodes 12, Brandon 8, Robinson 7, Faulkner 9, Evans 0, Pivorius 0, Sumler 0, TOTAL: 75.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE (20-9, 15-6): Nelson 17, Cohill 16, Green 10, McBride 9, Rush 8, Myles 2, Lovelace 1, Covington 0, Rathan-Mayes 0, TOTAL: 63.
NKU WOMEN OUSTED BY CLEVELAND STATE IN OT IN SEMIS
The underdog NKU women, the No. 5 seed, came close before falling, 63-60, in overtime to No. 2 seed Cleveland State in a Monday afternoon Horizon League semifinal tournament game. NKU finishes 17-14 overall and 10-10 in the Horizon League. Cleveland State is 29-4 (17-3 in the Horizon).
NKU’s Lindsey Duvall scored 21 points with nine rebounds and three assists to lead NKU, her 12th 20-point game of the season. Ivy Turner added 11 points, Kailee Davis 10.
A big reason NKU stayed in this one is the Norse defense forced 23 CSU turnovers.
BOX SCORE
NORTHERN KENTUCKY 19 13 7 15 6—60
CLEVELAND STATE 13 14 13 14 9—63
NORTHERN KENTUCKY (17-14): Duvall 21, Turner 11, Davis 10, Mitchell-Steen 8, Souder 6, Igo 2, Irvin 2, TOTAL 60.
CLEVELAND STATE (29-4, 17-3): Leo 25, Smith 14, Moore 12, Zieniewska 5, Ngwafang 3, Williams 2, Reisma 2, Burch 0, Villalobos 0, Ly 0, TOTAL: 63.