Mike Kelsey scored 25 points Tuesday

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Mike Kelsey scored 25 points, dished out four assists and finished with three steals Tuesday night as Northern Kentucky University defeated UC-Clermont, 99-72, in Regents Hall.

Kelsey, a senior guard and a graduate of Elder High School, connected on five three-point field goals as NKU improved to 7-7. The Norse shot 52.3 percent from the field and used 13-for-28 shooting from three-point range to pick up the non-conference victory.

“When we get the opportunities to knock down shots, we need to do it,” Kelsey said. “Tonight, there were times when we did. When we get looks like that, it’s got to be wide open looks like we did tonight, we have to shoot them better than we did.

“We knocked down nine between the two of us, but we have to shoot even better than that. We’ve kind of struggled a little bit getting into a rhythm in games, and that’s why our percentages are down, but I think we are coming around.”

Kelsey now has 1,306 career points, which ranks 15th in Norse history. He needs five points to move past Greg Phelia (1,310 points) into 14th on the NKU all-time scoring list, and he is just six points shy of passing Brenden Stowers (1,311 points) for 13th place.

Steve Purdon and Kevin Reinhardt each added 14 points for NKU, which collected 29 assists as a team. Jordan Stowers led the Norse with nine assists as NKU defeated UC-Clermont in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

“It was great ball movement. The other side of it is the reason you get an assist is because someone finishes the plays off by making the shots inside,” NKU head coach Dave Bezold said. “We were patient. They played us in a two-three, and we were fortunate enough to make enough plays to win.”

Steve Purdon added 14 points

Travis Rasso finished with 11 points and five rebounds for the Norse, who used a 36-12 advantage in bench scoring. Derek Smith added nine points and four rebounds, while teammate Harrison Morton had eight points and five assists.

NKU built a 47-33 halftime lead by shooting 58.6 percent from the field. Kelsey and Purdon combined for 21 first-half points, and the Norse rolled to the easy win in the second half.

Kevin Schappell pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds for NKU, which won the battle of the boards by a 38-34 margin. Pat Cary added eight points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.

Stephan Dunn led UC-Clermont with 22 points.

NKU will play host to Bellarmine at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game in Regents Hall.

“It’s always good to get a win under your belt especially at home. We need to get it done here. Eight of our next twelve games are at home,” Purdon said. “We just need to get in our groove here, and protect our house, and hopefully that will help us turn the season around.”