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By Tom Ramstetter, NKU Sports Information HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Senior post player Dzaflo Larkai dominated the inside and finished with 26 points as Bellarmine upset No. 22 Northern Kentucky University, 75-71, Saturday night in Regents Hall. Larkai, a 6-foot-8 center from London, England, entered the game averaging 16 points, but he scored 15 in the first half against the Norse. “All they had to do is throw it down inside and we fouled the heck out of (Larkai),” Norse head coach Dave Bezold said. “We played very poor position defense in the first half, and that’s my fault. I didn’t have us ready to play the right kind of defense in the first half. I thought we’d be a little bit better that way. “In the second half, we made a few more adjustments. Again, any time you get a bad angle, all they have to do is throw it up in the air and all they have to do is catch it because of the size factor. On their side of it, if we can make some shots, we can take care of that.” Three NKU starters fouled out, starting with Harrison Morton with 5:51 left in the game. Anthony Teague followed with 3:44 left, and Vincent Humphrey took a seat on the bench with 43.1 seconds left, and the Norse fell to 16-4 overall, 10-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. NKU fell into second place in the GLVC East Division standings due to Kentucky Wesleyan’s 79-70 win over Saint Joseph’s Saturday. Kentucky Wesleyan’s is now 11-2 in the GLVC, but the Norse own a win over the Panthers and will visit Owensboro later this month. NKU didn’t make many shots, shooting only 39 percent (23-59) from the field, including 32.1 percent in the first half. “Earlier in the game, we were not shooting that well,” Humphrey said. “I think we shot only 32 percent, which should have been much better. I think it was on our defensive end, really. We let them get in the bonus early in the first half and they hit their free throws when we sent them there. We dug ourselves a hole early and never got out of it.” Bellarmine, which led the rest of the way after falling behind 2-0, improved to 14-7, 8-5 in the GLVC. The Knights shot 46.5 percent from the field, were 6-for-10 from 3-point range and hit 29 of 41 free throws. Humphrey led the Norse on a furious comeback attempt, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the second half. Humphrey helped the Norse close to within five, 67-62, with just over a minute remaining before fouling out.
“I just looked up at the scoreboard and didn’t want to lose,” Humphrey said. “Coach Bezold, with about 3:30 left, told us not to quit. A lot of us have it in us and we don’t want to quit. That is our mentality. I just tried to do things to bring the game closer.” Mark Hawkins took over from there and helped the Norse to within two points, 73-71, with his 3-pointer with five seconds remaining, but NKU could get no closer. Hawkins finished with 12 points, all in the second half. Morton scored only four points in just 15 minutes. Teague scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half. “Anthony Teague kept us in the game in the first half,” Bezold said. “He had to make tough shots, and if he doesn’t make them, we could have been down 20 points and dug ourselves too big of a hole that we wouldn’t have been able to get out of.” Adam Brames scored 13 points for the Knights, while Jamie Jackson added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Bellarmine. Holy Cross High School graduate Scott Bibbins scored 10 points for the Norse and added a game-high six assists. Billy Finnell dished out five assists for NKU. Bibbins, DeAaron Williams, and Travis Rasso each grabbed four rebounds for the Norse. NKU had just returned to the NCAA Division II national rankings with three straight wins. Those wins followed a loss at Missouri-St. Louis Jan. 24 - the last time NKU appeared in the rankings. “The bottom line is this time of year, you can handle the pressure, step up, and continue to win or you fold up,” Bezold said. “We’ve got a bunch of seniors, and they are not going to let us fold. One thing I don’t ever want to have happen is to be ranked again. Every time we get ranked, we lay an egg. So that’s the bottom line, no more rankings for us.” NKU plays host to Saint Joseph’s this Thursday at 7:45 p.m. in another key GLVC East Division showdown. The Norse play their final regular-season game in Regents Hall next Saturday against Indianapolis at a special start time of 7 p.m. NKU ON TV SUNDAY NIGHT: Sunday night at 11:30 p.m., NKU head coaches Nancy Winstel and Dave Bezold will be guests on Channel 9’s Sports of All Sorts. Be sure to tune in as Channel 9 sports director John Popovich discusses the history of Regents Hall and looks ahead to the opening of The Bank of Kentucky Center with Winstel and Bezold.
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