Derek Smith drives to the hoop for a basket

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Early deficits in the first and second halves were too much for Northern Kentucky University to overcome Thursday night in Regents Hall, as Quincy defeated the Norse, 70-64.

Phil Gettinger and Jordan Roth combined for 35 points and 18 rebounds for the Hawks, who improved to 17-9 overall, 13-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Norse (11-14 overall, 7-12 GLVC) had trouble stopping the 6-foot-9 Gettinger, who scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half.

“Their size really bothered us. We just didn’t have an answer,” NKU head coach Dave Bezold said. “We had some guys inside who were just having so much of a problem handling those guys, but it wasn’t just those guys.

“It was our help defense. No one person stopped a great scorer. When there was a mismatch, the team defense wasn’t good enough.”

Quincy held an 18-point lead with 7:41 remaining in the first half, but NKU went on a 12-2 spurt to go into the break only down 32-24. Derek Smith sparked the run by scoring six straight points.

Mike Kelsey finished the first half run with a layup with 27 seconds to go.

After the break, the Hawks ran out to a 15 point lead with 10:47 left in the game. The Norse responded again, with 14-2 run. During the run, Kelsey hit two three-pointers, and Kevin Reinhardt capped the run with two consecutive layups.

The Norse pulled to within three with 7:16 remaining on the second layup by Reinhardt, but the Hawks answered each run NKU put together.

“It was a game where we came out sluggish and got ourselves in a hole,” Bezold said. “We had to battle back and battle back, and we did that. We gave ourselves a chance to be there right at the end, and we couldn’t make free throws. We couldn’t make the big shot.”

Smith led the Norse with 21 points and a career-high 17 rebounds.

Mike Kelsey added 13 points on Thursday

“Derek is a huge asset to this team, especially when he comes out and plays like he did tonight,” Kelsey said. “We’ve known. We’ve seen it a little bit this year when that warrior comes out in him, and we saw that the whole game tonight. I don’t know what got into him, but he was an animal.

“We need that. If we are going to go anywhere, if we are going to make a run in the conference tournament next week, we’re going to need that out of him because he’s a very gifted player and a very gifted athlete. When he plays like that he only helps us.”

Reinhardt added 16 points and five rebounds for the Norse, and Kelsey finished with 13 points. NKU is now 8-1 all-time against Quincy in Regents Hall, and the Norse own a 16-4 edge in the series with the Hawks.

Kelsey, who now has 1,524 career points, has scored in double figures in 13 consecutive games. He is also 10 points shy of passing Shawn Scott (1,533 points) for seventh place on the NKU all-time leading scoring list.

NKU will host Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. to close out the regular season. The Norse will start GLVC Tournament action on March 3 at Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Ind.

Pairings and times for the GLVC Tournament will be announced Sunday.