By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
DAYTON, Ohio: Marques Warrick knew a couple of things for certain when this showdown Horizon League game was heading south in Northern Kentucky’s regular-season-ending loss at Wright State Saturday.
This is how your do it — score 39 points, that is — with the focus of Marques Warrick. (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
“When we were down double-digits in the second half, I knew I had to do something,” NKU’s record-breaking career senior scorer said. Well, Marques did more than something. In the final 14 minutes, with the Norse trailing by as many as 15 points, all Marques did was score 25 of his second-highest-game-ever 39 points to bring NKU within four – 89-85 – with 42.2 seconds left.
That was as close as the Norse got in this fourth-place-deciding game that will have fifth-place NKU coming back here Thursday for the first-round Horizon League 8 p.m. playoff game after losing by six, 94-88.
But here’s the second thing Warrick understood as he made incredibly athletic spin moves in traffic while converting with either hand and then hitting from deep in both corners and way past the three-point arc out on the floor when every single person in the Nutter Center crowd of 5,232 knew he was going to be firing it up one way or another. Nothing else would have given NKU a chance.
“I didn’t come in thinking that way,” Warrick said, “but when we’re down like that, . . . “
Yep, only once in his career, when he scored 45 points last season against Tennessee Tech, had Warrick scored this many. Or realized he had to for an NKU team down two starters against a big, veteran Wright State team.
It was billed as a showdown between Wright State senior Trey Calvin, a 2,000-plus-point scorer – and Player-of-the-Year candidate like Marques — and the NKU star. After the game, Marques was able to step back and give the hot-shooting Raider and his teammates their due: “It was their Senior Night,” he said, “maybe it was meant to be.”
Another big-time effort from NKU senior Trey Robinson — 20 points, nine rebounds (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
Wright State’s pair of grad student, all-league guards with Tanner Holden joining Calvin, managed to combine for 39 points between them to equal Warrick with Calvin’s 23 and Holden’s 16.
“This could have been our last home game,” Calvin said of the tie-breaking win for the Raiders (18-13, 13-7). Now they get the game that NKU (17-14, 12-8) was hoping for – and the chance to win a trip to Indianapolis for the March 11-12 league’s final four at home.
But here’s the weird part of this deal. And the good news for NKU basketball’s postseason chances.
And since it’s spring, how about a baseball analogy. The Norse are in effect playing Wright State in a two-game Horizon League doubleheader this week. And NKU just lost Game 1 Saturday to end the regular season. And now they’ll head back the 65-plus miles past Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Wright Brothers Museum with a chance to make it all right after getting swept by the Raiders in the regular season.
That’s the beauty of it for this NKU team: If the now No. 5 Norse pull off a victory Thursday, those two previous losses to Wright State won’t matter a bit. NKU will be moving on to the semifinals in Indianapolis.
“That’s what I’ve been saying,” NKU Coach Darrin Horn said after the game. “It’s March, baby . . . It’s all about Thursday. You’re going to be playing somebody really good. We did it last year (on the road) at Oakland (in the postseaon). We’ll be ready.”
Wright State star Trey Calvin tries to take the ball away from NKU’s Marques Warrick, who says ‘no can do’ (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
“It’s the only thing that matters,” Warrick said. “It’s 0-0.”
Wright State’s Calvin understands. “We just have to play the way we did the first two games,” with the Raiders averaging 89.5 points a game (after an 85-78 win at NKU) against the Norse. “We beat ‘em.”
“We’ve got to try to guard ‘em better,” said NKU’s other senior, 6-6 Trey Robinson, after nearly pulling off his third straight double-double (20 points, nine rebounds) with an ankle nowhere near 100 percent with NKU’s 6-9 post player Keeyan Itejere out for the third straight game with an ankle injury.
Which had Horn praising the work of his undersized non-post players including 6-8 LJ Wells (eight points, eight rebounds) going against Wright State’s 6-9 AJ Braun (16 points, eight rebounds) and 6-8 Brandon Noel (19 points, 12 rebounds). “We’re asking LJ to do a lot going against those guys.”
For the game’s first 28 minutes, until Warrick took over, the Norse were one of 13 from long range to WSU’s eight of 19 from three. “We were a little un-aggressive at the beginning,” Horn said, “but then we guarded them. They just made ‘em.”
NKU’s Michael Bradley gets bodied up by WSU defender Alex Huibregtse (Photo by Dale Dawn/NKyTribune)
And NKU, for too long, did not. “You have to make ‘em when you get ‘em,” Horn said. Until late in the game with Warrick nailing five of them, NKU didn’t, losing the three-point battle 11 of 25 to eight of 25. But that’s not the stat line that lost this one. Wright State hit 19 of 28 free throws to NKU’s 10 of 16.
Thursday night’s one-and-maybe-not-done scenario for NKU Is just one more example of how crazy the Horizon has played out this season. NKU had a 4-2 record against the top three teams in the league but lost five – including the two to WSU – to teams below NKU in the standings. Which is why they were tied with WSU going into Saturday.
So now they get a chance to show the Raiders that no one beats an NKU team — picked to win the Horizon this season — three times even if the Norse are down two key starters with team leader Sam Vinson joining Itejere after season-ending ACL surgery.
This situation gives a whole new spin to Horn’s “Three days in March” mantra. It’s down to just one day now. But win that one and it becomes three again with a possible two more in Indy.
Got that?
SCORING SUMMARY
NORTHERN KENTUCKY 38 50—88
WRIGHT STATE 45 49—94
NORTHERN KENTUCKY (17-14, 12-8 Horizon): Wells 3-8 0-2 2-4, Robinson 8-15 0-1 4-5 20, Warrick 15-23 5-10 4-5 39, Pettus 2-6 0-4 2-2 6, Bradley 5-9 1-3 0-2 11 Israel 2-6 0-3 0-3 0-0 4, Tchilombo 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Ipassou 0-0 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 35-68 8-25 10-16 88.
WRIGHT STATE (18-12, 13-7 Horizon): Noel 7-14 2-6 3-4 19, Braun 5-8 0-0 2-4 12, Calvin 6-12 3-7 8-9 23, Huibregse 6-9 5-8 2-2 19, Holden 6-11 0-0 4-8 16, Woods 1-3 0-2 0-1 2, Carter 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Welage 1-2 1-2 0-0 3; TOTALS: 32-58 11-25 19-28 94.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.
