By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
It wasn’t exactly supposed to go down like this, not really, but that’s the way postseason basketball works.
NKU’s women’s basketball team, fourth-ranked in the Horizon League and home at Truist Arena for a first-round postseason playoff game against seventh-seeded IU-Indy Wednesday, couldn’t keep its offense going in the final quarter and fell, 74-72, in a season-ending loss.
The NKU men, ranked seventh in the league and on the road in Rochester, Mich., at a fourth-ranked Oakland team that had beaten the Norse twice already, did not fall short. Like the women, the Norse also went cold at the end but NKU had a 14-point lead with 1:58 left and lost just 13 points of it, winning 85-84, to advance to the final five teams in Indianapolis with a Sunday afternoon game at 3:30 at Cortena Coliseum against Green Bay – another team that has beaten NKU twice this season.
The good news: In Darrin Horn’s seven seasons at NKU, advancing to Indy in six of those, no team has ever beaten NKU three times. Winner of Sunday’s game will join the top three survivors – Wright State, Robert Morris and Detroit Mercy – in the semifinals. As the lowest-ranked team to make it to Indy, NKU would face No. 1 Wright State Monday night at 7 should it beat Green Bay.
But first, Horn was celebrating a big road win for his 19-13 NKU team. “A total team effort,” he said on1360 Fox Sports on the postgame show. “The key was on the glass, we did a great job on the glass,” in rebounding with Oakland, falling just three short there – 43-40.
And other than allowing Brody Robinson to score 36 points, hitting 10 of 20 three-pointers, “I thought we did a great job defensively,” Horn said. If only they could have knocked down some free throws in the final minutes when Oakland outscored NKU, 25-12.
“They fouled us to get back in the game,” Horn said, and they did.
One who missed six of 10, fourth-year senior LJ Wells, did plenty else for NKU, however, to earn player of the game honors for his double-double – 18 points, 11 rebounds.
“I don’t know if we’ve lost a game all year when LJ had a double-double,” Horn said. And they hadn’t.
Others coming in for postgame praise were leading scorer Donovan Oday, with 19 points, and senior Dan Gherezgher, who “played with a lot of poise,” Horn said, “really solid,” on his way to 17 points. Backup Ryan Tolliver didn’t score in his nine minutes but grabbed five big rebounds.
As for another matchup with a team that’s beaten NKU twice, “It really doesn’t matter this time of year,” Horn said. It’s tournament time. And you have to show up and play against whoever’s there.
As NKU did Wednesday.
SCORING SUMMARY
NORTHERN KY 37 48—85
OAKLAND 31 53—84
Northern Kentucky (19-13, 10-10 Horizon): Oday 7-11 2-4 3-4 19, Wells 7-11 0-1 4-10 18, Robinson 4-10 2-7 4-4 14, Dozier 3-8 1-4 3-6 10, Elliott 1-6 1-4 0-1 3, Gherezgher 5-11 3-8 4-5 17, Rakotonanahary 2-2 0-0 0-0 4, Tolliver 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 29-61 9-28 18-30—85.
Oakland (16-16, 12-8 Horizon): Robinson 12-26 10-20 2-3 36, Garrett 6-10 1-2 1-3 14, Naivalurua 5-7 0-1 2-2 12, Houge 4-9 0-0 0-0 8, Wells 1-8 0-2 0-0 2, Thurmon 1-3 0-0 0-0 2, Marshall 0-2 0-1 0-0 0; TOTALS: 31-74 13-34 9-12– 84.
IU-Indy74, Northern Kentucky 72
IU-Indy upset the NKU women by knocking down 53 percent (29 of 55) of the Jaguars’ shots from the field to the Norse’s 39 percent (26-66). NKU won the rebounding battle, 38-29, and hit on eight of 20 threes to IU-Indy’s three of 16. But that wasn’t enough.
While IU-Indy heads to Indianapolis for a playoff game Sunday, the loss ends NKU’s season at 15-17. Although it looked like a potential win here as NKU led the game, 66-60, with 6:24 left. But thanks to a pair of two-minute-plus scoring droughts in which it was outscored 14-6 — and 11-0 in one stretch – NKU could not hold on. Or catch up, coming within one point twice in the final 27 seconds – at 71-70 and 73-72 – but NKU never could get the lead.
Mya Meredith led NKU in scoring with 16 points.
SCORING SUMMARY
IU-Indianapolis 18 9 26 21–74
Northern Kentucky 17 14 22 19—72
IU-Indy (14-16, 9-11 Horizon): Craig 4-8 0-1 2-2 10, Foster 4-6 3-4 2-2 13, H. Smith 7-14 0-3 2-3 16, O. Smith 8-11 0-1 4-5 20, Hall 4-6 0-1 2-4 10, Bolden 0-4 0-3 0-0 0, Adams 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 2-4 0-2 0-0 4, Mills 0-1 0-0 1-2 1; TOTALS 29-55 3-16 13-18 74.
NKU (15-17, 12-8): Rushton 4-12 1-6 3-3 12, Meredith 6-12 2-2 2-2 16, Wolterman 2-6 0-0 1-2 5, Bystry 3-14 0-3 4-5 10, Moody 2-5 0-0 0-0 4, Morgan 3-5 2-3 1-1 9, Jordan 1-4 0-1 0-0 2, Hamilton 2-2 2-2 0-0 6, Hubert 1-3 1-3 0-0 3, Thomas 2-3 0-0 1-1; TOTALS: 26-66 8-20 12-14—72.
Attendance: 892