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By Mike Anderson, NKU Sports Information HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Sure, there were other players on the court, but Thursday night was once again the Steven Wright Show as the Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week treated the Regents Hall crowd an encore performance to his award-winning weekend. On a night when the Northern Kentucky University women's team solidified its spot in the GLVC Tournament, the men's squad took one step closer to the same with a 67-49 defeat of Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday night. The win pushed the NKU streak to four games. Wright had a personal 11-5 run early in the first half to extend the Norse lead to double digits. His teammates responded with a 17-5 run later in the first half to open up a 19-point halftime advantage. The NKU defense kept Wesleyan on their heels, converting nine first-half Panther turnovers into 12 points by the break. “I thought our defensive intensity got us out of the gate,” said head coach Dave Bezold. “Then that first half was the difference in the game when we came out and played so hard. It also set the tempo offensively for us as well." NKU cooled off in the second half, shooting an uncharacteristic 38.5 percent from the field and hitting just one of nine 3-point attempts. In the meantime, Wesleyan opened the floodgates with a 13-3 start to the second half to bring the Panthers within nine with just less than 14 minutes remaining. Wright soon answered with another 9-3 run on the Panthers in the second half and finished with a team-high 23 points and six rebounds. Another 10 turnovers by the Panthers kept them from clawing back into the game. “That is what we expect out of him, but he’s a great guy,” added teammate Vincent Humphrey, who scored 16 points. “We know he’s our leader and as Steve goes, we go. The thing about him is if he has an off night, we have other guys that can pick us up but tonight he was on. He’s our floor leader, and I’m glad he’s on our team." Bezold knew the Norse could take advantage of the Panthers' suspect ballhandling. “If they have an Achilles' heel, that is one of them; they turn it over a lot. I don’t know how much of it was our good defense, or if they were just careless with the basketball.”
Humphrey concurred: “Coach Bez is always stressing to us to pick up the pressure on the ball, get in the passing lanes, get tips or do anything possible to get them out of their game. That’s what we did tonight, especially in the second half when our offense was kind of laid back. “We turned to our defense and it was a pretty good game.” James Cripe and Harrison Morton each contributed eight points. The Norse had seven steals defensively, led by Morton's three. Rodney Edgerson led Kentucky Wesleyan (11-12, 4-12 GLVC) with 12 points on the night. Jeff Fahnbulleh had his offensive production cut in half compared with the teams' Jan. 18 meeting, but still registered a double-double for the Panthers with 11 points and 16 rebounds. “(Fahnbulleh) is one of the best post players that has been in this conference in a long time,” said Bezold of the GLVC's second-leading scorer. “I think we just played good team defense,” said Wright of the defensive dominance, as the Norse held Wesleyan to 39 percent shooting, 12 points off their season average. “Coach emphasized that he wanted us to play good, hard team defense, and it paid off.” NKU (18-6, 11-5 GLVC) maintained first place in the GLVC East Division, but the Norse could still finish as low as sixth if they do not continue winning. NKU returns to action for the final time in Regents Hall this season Monday, hosting rival Bellarmine in a makeup of Tuesday's postponement. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. NKU will honor its seniors - Wright, Cripe, Anthony Teague, Kevin Schappell and manager Nathan Rutledge - and their families. The Norse will wrap-up the regular season with a road trip to Saint Joseph's and Indianapolis next weekend. |
