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By Mike Anderson, NKU Sports Information HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Whether it was pride, rivalry, Senior Night or a division title within their grasp, the Norse of Northern Kentucky University found a way to win under much adversity Monday night against Bellarmine. The Norse clinched the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division crown with a 91-82 overtime victory against the Knights in Regents Hall. Bellarmine appeared to be in control when Brandon Clifford hit a clutch 3-pointer with 10.2 seconds remaining to take a 69-68 lead. NKU sophomore Billy Finnell, however, drove the length of the court and attempted a double-clutching layup. Finnell was fouled going up, and hit the first of two free throws with 5.3 seconds remaining to force overtime. Assistant coach David Marshall, taking the helm with Dave Bezold out due to illness, praised the sophomore's effort. “Coach Bezold had a comment yesterday: 'Billy, when you’re not going hard, you’re very average. When you’re going hard, you’re borderline above average to great.' He went hard and was great today.” The Norse got their scoring from all hands, with five different players going for double figures, led by Finnell's career-high 21-point effort to go along with six assists and four rebounds. “We don’t care who scores the buckets as long as we win,” said Finnell, who reached double figures for just the second time in the last eight games. “Everybody is together and cares about one common goal, to win games, and that’s what we did.” In the extra frame, it was all Norse, as they got the job done from the charity stripe hitting 12-of-15 free throws to ice things in the extra frame. Sixteen of Kevin Schappell's 18 points came in the second half, while Vincent Humphrey came just short of a double-double with 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds. “We’re always trying to tell Kevin to shoot the ball,” said Humphrey of the senior. “He’s a team player who’ll try to get somebody another shot or whatever he thinks is best for the team.” Steven Wright chipped in 17 points, while James Cripe added 12 points. “It was Senior Night, and we had a lot of emotion,” added Humphrey.“If we won, we could send Bellarmine home and wrap up conference. We just knew it was a must-win game.”
Schappell knew that tonight's game was no comparison to their last meeting with the Knights in Louisville. “You can take the tape from the first time we played them and burn it in the fire because we’re such a different team. We didn’t have an identity and we were searching for it but now we’ve found it and know who we are.” Finnell saw a marked difference in his team's intensity since the November humbling. “Defensively, we played well. Down there, we were relaxed and they took it to us. They kicked us around pretty well. "When they came up here, we had to work hard as a team and we had something to prove to ourselves. That’s exactly what we did.” Clifford, in his second contest after a 21-game hiatus due to eligibility concerns, scored 25 of his game-high 27 points for Bellarmine (12-13, 8-9 GLVC) in the second half and overtime. “He’s a hard match-up for us,” Marshall said Clifford, who went 5-for-8 from long range. “We haven’t seen a guy that’s 6-9 and who can can step out and shoot like he can. No matter how many times we tell our guys, they’re just not used to seeing someone his size step out and shoot.” Marcus Flynn had 16 points and eight assists for the Knights, while Matt Otte added 13 points and eight rebounds. The Norse opened things up early in the first with a 9-0 run to give themselves a 10-point lead, their largest of the night, with five minutes gone in the game. Bellarmine responded with an 18-4 run to regain the lead with less than eight minutes left. NKU came back to finish the half with a 10-4 run, bringing things to a draw at 29-all through 20 minutes. Cripe came through with six points in an 11-4 run for the Norse to open the second half that came to a screeching halt after a pair of Clifford 3-pointers. Humphrey and Schappell responded with long treys of their own to retake a four-point lead with 12:47 left. NKU continued to hold on to their tenuous lead until Bellarmine came up with a huge 9-2 run in the final 2:27 of the second half to set up Finnell's tying free throw and the ensuing overtime period. After trading buckets in the extra frame, NKU exploded for a 14-4 run to put the game out of reach, with Harrison Morton's alley-oop layup as time expired adding an exclamation point to a division championship for the Norse. And if Schappell has anything to say about it, it's not the last piece of hardware going in the Regents Hall trophy case. “We’ve found our identity and know who we are. We’re going to be pretty dangerous here in March.” NKU (19-6, 12-5 GLVC) travels to face Saint Joseph's and Indianapolis to close out the regular season. The GLVC Tournament is March 2-4 at Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Ind.
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