By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
Sometimes it goes like this. When the kids on the unicycles at halftime seem to be having a much easier time negotiating their way around the Truist Arena floor than the basketball players for NKU and visiting Purdue Fort Wayne.
Just one of those nights for this nationally telecast game Thursday when it was on exactly the right network – ESPNU – with the “U” for “ugly.” NKU might as well have been trying to play this one outside on the parking lot in the fog.
You were almost becoming accustomed to the benches – and fans – counting down at the end of the 30-second shot clock before a desperate buzzer-beating no-chance heave. Or when two different players in two different uniforms were trying to dribble the ball at the same time in two different directions. Or the scrums where four players were trying to locate the ball and none could. How about the passes to the officials, who were having their own problems calling this one.
And forget the missed layups. “I counted seven,” NKU Coach Darrin Horn said, although he guessed that when he watches the film, he’ll find 10. “Is there anything more demoralizing than a missed layup?”
On this night, maybe NKU’s 63-58 Horizon League loss to a Mastodon team (they prefer to be called the ‘Dons) coming in on a five-game losing streak might have been. A win here for what would have been four straight for NKU would have lifted the Norse into a tie for second, just a half-game behind a first-place Green Bay team that NKU beat by 22 points Saturday.
But no such luck, which is what it would have taken for NKU (11-10, 6-4 Horizon) to avoid being swept by a fired-up PFW team (14-8, 5-5 Horizon) determined to avoid a sixth straight loss. Just one of those nights when you thought the difference might be playing at home, where NKU is was 8-1 going into this game.
But no. Maybe it might have helped had the well-prepared ‘Dons not come out and shut down pretty much every single Norse except Marques Warrick, whose 27 points left him one short of the 2,000 Club and 67 away from tying NKU’s all-time career scoring leader Drew McDonald’s 2,066.
“He looked like a senior player-of-the-year candidate should look,” Horn said. And like the senior from Lexington always looks. “The thing that makes ‘Ques so special is that he’s always the same – not a guy trying to break a record but win a game.”
And with less than 20 seconds left, Warrick had a shot – a contested three just out of his range – to tie it at 59, Horn noted. Maybe that’s the good news here: NKU played not well at all against a team Horn said was playing “fantastic” – or at least as well as it can — and NKU still had a shot to tie it.
“It was ugly for sure,” Warrick said, noting his own five turnovers, “offense and defense . . . missed opportunities . . . we really wanted this one.”
But as Horn mentioned more than a few times, the Norse didn’t play like it. “We’re our biggest challenge first,” Horn said. “It’s what you saw tonight when we’re not necessarily the team we need to be.”
Which would be a tougher, more determined effort from the three inside starters – Trey Robinson, LJ Wells and Keeyan Itejere — who made just five of 20 shots. And a healthy point guard Michael Bradley, coming off the flu, who was scoreless in 25:49.
Hitting just three of 18 shots (16.7 percent) from three-point range, the Norse gave up 15 points (24-9 differential) to a PFW team that hit on eight of 29 (27.6 percent) – not great, but just enough of a difference.
And even though NKU turned Purdue Fort Wayne over 19 times, the Norse scored just 14 points off turnovers, often giving the ball up carelessly – one possession (if you can call it that) – had three steals going back and forth and back again – looking more like volleyball or rugby.
“You have to capitalize on 19 turnovers,” Warrick said. NKU couldn’t. One “bright spot” for NKU, Horn said, with only Warrick in double figures, was 6-8 Cade Meyer, who scored nine points on perfect four-for-four shooting in 12:32.
Guard Jalen Jackson led PFW with 17 points. Five-foot-8 speedster Quinton Morton-Robertson came off the bench for 15. While a third guard, Anthony Roberts, added 10 as the ‘Dons swept NKU this season, winning 73-60 in Ft. Wayne.
NKU heads off on the road to play at Youngstown State, a team that NKU beat, 79-76, Jan. 4 for a 1:30 p.m. game Saturday. The 15-6 Penguins are 7-3 in the Horizon, a game ahead of NKU in second place. The key for NKU is to finish in the top four in the league in the regular season to get a home playoff game before the four semifinalists move on to Indianapolis.
SCORING SUMMARY
PFW 29 34–63
NKU 25 33—58
PURDUE FT. WAYNE (14-7, 5-5): Mulder 2-2 0-0 0-0 4, Bello 3-8 2-5 0-0 8, Jackson 7-10 3-4 0-0 17, Morton-Robertson 4-14 2-12 5-8 15, Roberts 3-8 0-1 4-4 10, DeJurnett 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 1-6 1-4 0-0 3, Hadnot 2-7 0-3 2-2 6; TOTALS: 22-55 8-29 11-14 63.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY (11-10, 6-4): Wells 2-6 0-0 0-0 4, Robinson 1-10 0-4 2-2 4, Itejere 2-4 0-0 0-0 4, Warrick 8-19 2-8 9-10 27, Bradley 0-4 0-4 0-0 0, Pettus 2-5 1-2 4-4 9, Meyer 4-4 0-0 1-2 9, Israel 0-0 0-0 1-2 1, Tchilombo 0-1 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 19-53 3-18 17-20 58.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.