Mike Kelsey drives past Reque Newsome

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Carl Richburg scored 20 points to lead five Southern Indiana players in double figures Thursday night as the 19th-ranked Screaming Eagles posted an 80-67 win over Northern Kentucky University in Regents Hall.

Reque Newsome, Cris Brunson and Chris Thompson each added 12 points for Southern Indiana, which shot 51.1 percent from the field. The Screaming Eagles (16-4 overall, 11-2 Great Lakes Valley Conference) also used 21-for-25 shooting from the free-throw line in the second half to pull away from NKU.

“Southern is a very talented team, and we fouled too much,” NKU head coach Dave Bezold said. “We sent them to the line too many times.”

Southern Indiana built a 21-15 lead in the first half, but Mike Kelsey quickly took over with his outside shooting. The senior guard drained five straight three-point shots as NKU took a 30-28 advantage with 3:30 remaining in the first half.

“He’s just been fantastic the last month and a half. He’s been an All-American,” Bezold said of Kelsey. “If the rest of our club would step up their game like he has over the last month and a half, we wouldn’t have a problem winning basketball games.”

Southern Indiana, however, closed the half with a 9-2 run and took a 37-32 lead at the break. The Screaming Eagles slowly pulled away in the second half, and a 12-2 run gave Southern Indiana its biggest lead at 72-54 with 4:25 left.

Richburg keyed the spurt by hitting a three-pointer and making a pair of free throws. For the game, Richburg converted all 10 of his free throws, and Southern Indiana made 29-of-36 attempts from the line.

David Bryant added 10 points and four assists for Southern Indiana, which is ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region poll. Thompson pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds for the Screaming Eagles, who needed overtime to defeat NKU on Jan. 8 at Evansville, Ind.

Kelsey led NKU (9-11 overall, 5-9 GLVC) with 28 points and moved into 10th place on the Norse’s all-time scoring list with 1,434 career points. Pat Cary added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Norse, who shot just 36.2 percent from the field.

“I know (Kelsey) had a good game, and usually when (Kelsey) has a big game we’re in the game the whole time,” Cary said. “They had five guys in double figures. They just had balanced scoring all the way down, and that hurt us.”

NKU will play host to Kentucky Wesleyan at 3:15 p.m. Saturday. The Norse’s Derek Smith said it is important that his team bounce back in that game.

“We’re going to come out and keep fighting for a win. We’ve still got a chance in this thing, and we’re on a little bit of a slide now, but we are trying to rebound,” Smith said. “And, this team does a great job of bouncing back. We get mad when we lose, but we don’t let it sting us for very long. We get back and do some great things, so hopefully that will happen and we’ll get back on a roll.”