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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Loveland High School connection of Kevin Schappell and James Cripe led Northern Kentucky University into a tie for first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division on Thursday night. Schappell scored 20 points off the bench and made six free throws in the final 30 seconds as NKU held on for a 67-62 win over Indianapolis in Regents Hall. The Norse improved to 13-5 overall, 6-4 in the GLVC. The victory allowed NKU to move into a tie atop the GLVC East with both Indianapolis and Bellarmine. Schappell made four 3-pointers and was 8-for-8 at the free-throw line. Cripe, the first 7-footer in NKU basketball history, finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots. Cripe's old high school buddy was impressed by what he saw Thursday night. "That’s the James Cripe that coach (Dave) Bezold and everybody on our team thought we had when he came here," Schappell said. "We just need him to be consistent and produce like that because he’s capable of doing that every game." Cripe scored 10 points and pulled down five rebounds in the first half as NKU built a 37-23 lead. The Norse held Indianapolis to 30 percent shooting from the field during the opening 20 minutes. "We played great defense. Our problem has been putting two good halves of defense together, and I think we did that tonight," said Cripe, who played at Division I Dayton before transferring to NKU. "That helps because we weren’t necessarily scoring the ball as well as we could have in the second half." Indianapolis (10-7, 6-4 GLVC) took advantage of NKU's cold shooting (6-for-22) in the second half to cut the Norse lead to 60-58 with 1:17 remaining on a DeAndre Brock jumper. After Billy Finnell made one of two free throws with 56 seconds left to extend the lead to 61-58, Scott Strahm missed a 3-pointer. The Greyhounds fouled Schappell three straight times during the final 30 seconds, and the senior guard responded by knocking down six straight free throws to seal the win.
"That’s what Kevin does. He doesn’t miss a lot of free throws," said Cripe, who has watched Schappell make clutch free throws in both high school and college. "When the game gets down to the wire, I don’t want anybody else but him being fouled." Schappell scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half. Steven Wright added 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists for NKU. Finnell scored six points and dished out six assists. "In getting the nice lead we played a really nice first half," Bezold said. "Then again, we knew they’d make the run, and they did, but then we responded. It was tough in the end because we let them back in it." Anthony Teague added six points for NKU, and teammate Vincent Humphrey scored five. The Norse shot 42.3 percent from the field for the game and were 15-for-21 at the free-throw line. "Late in the season, you have to be able to execute on both sides of the floor in order to win," Bezold said. "We’ve been pretty good at the moment." Brock - who was named GLVC Player of the Week on Monday - led Indianapolis with 14 points, and Braxton Mills added 13 points and nine rebounds. Justin Barnard finished with 12 points and five rebounds. The Greyhounds shot 38.6 percent from the field and made all 12 of their free-throw attempts. NKU will meet Saint Joseph’s at 7:45 p.m. Saturday in the 2007 Homecoming. The Pumas lost at Bellarmine on Thursday night but have won the past two years in Regents Hall. Last season, Saint Joseph’s rallied to post a 75-69 win over NKU in Regents Hall. Saint Joseph’s trailed by five points (64-59) with 2:57 left, but the Pumas used a game-ending 16-5 run to pull out the win.
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