Gavin Ludgood finishes inside

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - In the first half, it was senior center Gavin Ludgood doing the damage inside. And during the second half, it was freshman guard David McFarland draining shots from all over the Regents Hall court.

By the time Ludgood and McFarland were finished tormenting the Wisconsin-Parkside defense Saturday afternoon, Northern Kentucky University owned a 71-66 victory over the Rangers. The Norse shot 59.1 percent from the field in the second half and improved to 12-5 overall, 7-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Ludgood, a 6-foot-8 center, scored 10 of his team-leading 14 points in the first half as NKU built a 36-28 advantage at the break. He also added eight rebounds and four blocked shots - including two key rejections in the final minute of play - for the Norse, who improved to 11-0 all-time in Regents Hall against Wisconsin-Parkside.

McFarland, a graduate of Boone County High School, added a career-high 13 points - 10 in the second half - and five rebounds. McFarland also was 5-for-5 from the field, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.

“It wasn’t just his 13 points. It was what he did defensively that was so important,” NKU head coach Dave Bezold said of McFarland. “(His offense) was icing on the cake, and without those 13 points, we don’t win this game.”

NKU built a 50-35 lead in the second half on a basket by Travis Rasso and held off a late Ranger (11-6, 4-5 GLVC) rally. Wisconsin-Parkside chipped away at the NKU lead and eventually made it a one-possession game at 69-66 on a basket by Tyrone Deacon with 14 seconds remaining.

Kevin Schappell, however, iced the victory by sinking a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to give NKU a 71-66 advantage. The Norse made just 57.7 percent of their free throws Saturday, including 7-for-15 in the second half.

Harrison Morton hits a 3-pointer

“We gave ourselves a little bit of a cushion, and we didn’t finish it the way we needed to,” Bezold said. “We had some mistakes and didn’t make the free throws to keep that 10-point cushion.

“But again, we found a way to win, and that’s what we’re supposed to do.”

Rasso, Schappell and Harrison Morton each added nine points off the bench for NKU, which outrebounded Wisconsin-Parkside by a 35-28 margin. Morton scored seven points in the second half and finished 4-for-6 from the field.

Billy Finnell added five points and a team-leading six assists for the Norse, and teammate Aaron Smith scored six points. The balanced NKU attack featured nine players who scored points Saturday.

Deacon netted a game-high 21 points for Wisconsin-Parkside. The 6-foot-2 sophomore guard was 6-for-13 from the field and added three steals while playing all 40 minutes.

“Billy did a great job of guarding him, but he’s just a heck of a player,” McFarland said of Deacon. “He made some tough shots, and (Finnell) did a tremendous job of stopping him tonight for the most part.”

Brad Ferstenou scored 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field for the Rangers. Kyle Clark added 16 points, but only five players for Wisconsin-Parkside were able to get into the scoring column the entire game.

NKU is ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region poll, and Wisconsin-Parkside is 10th. The winners of both the GLVC and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournaments will receive automatic berths to the NCAA II Great Lakes Region Tournament in March. Six at-large teams will also be selected to complete the Great Lakes Region field.

The Norse will play host to Bellarmine at 7:45 p.m. next Saturday in the 2006 NKU Homecoming in Regents Hall.

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