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By Tom Ramstetter, NKU Sports Information HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Vincent Humphrey and Dennis Gagai scored 15 points apiece and the Northern Kentucky men’s basketball team beat Kentucky Wesleyan, 69-62, Saturday afternoon in a Great Lakes Valley East Division showdown at Regents Hall. NKU improved to 13-2 overall, 7-1 in the GLVC to maintain sole possession of first place in the East Division. Kentucky Wesleyan fell to 14-3, 5-2 in the GLVC. The Panthers had won nine consecutive games entering the first-place battle Saturday. The Norse have now won seven straight against the Panthers and Norse head coach Dave Bezold owns a 7-0 record against Wesleyan. After trailing 25-21 at halftime, NKU opened the second half on a 21-8 run, including three straight 3-pointers by Harrison Morton, Humphrey and then Anthony Teague. The Norse busted the Kentucky Wesleyan zone defense by making their first five attempts from behind the arc to start the second half. “At halftime we just asked them to get it to certain spots and make the zone collapse,” Bezold said. “We were very fortunate to get some great penetration out of it and move the ball and be able to kick it back out. And the shots were more of what we practiced.” Kentucky Wesleyan drew to within two at 46-44 with under 10 minutes remaining before Billy Finnell went on a 5-0 run himself with a conventional three-point play on a layup and then another basket to make the score 51-44. Finnell added a trey from the top of the key at the 3:15 mark to make it 59-50 Norse. Finnell, a Purcell Marian High School graduate, finished with 11 points. Jeff Fahnbulleh led the Panthers with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Rodney Edgerson added 15 points for Kentucky Wesleyan. NKU started the game on an 8-0 run and led 10-4 after the first four minutes. Kentucky Wesleyan’s 6-0 run tied the game at 10, and the Panthers outscored NKU 13-6 over the next few minutes to go up 23-16. Gagai hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to cut it to 23-19 and Kentucky Wesleyan maintained that four-point lead into the locker room. NKU shot only 3-for-17 from 3-point range in the first half and just 9-for-30 from the field.
“When they see a zone, they get excited because they know they don’t have to run around,” Bezold said. “They knew they’d have wide-open looks. The threes, I felt they were open but they were a little too far. What we weren’t doing was penetrating the zone and making it collapse a little bit so our shots were shorter.” Humphrey led the Norse with seven points on 3-for-6 shooting and five rebounds in the first half and Gagai was 2-for-7 from the field and just 1-for-6 from behind the arc to add five first-half points. Lorenzo Taylor and Edgerson led the Panthers with six points apiece in the first half. Kentucky Wesleyan made 8 of 20 first-half field goals and was 8-for-8 at the free-throw line. “They just weren’t falling,” Gagai said of the first-half struggles. “Everything we shot was an open shot. The second half, it just seemed like a whole new game. We started hitting shots.” Humphrey’s 3-pointer from the baseline gave NKU a 29-27 lead and Teague followed with a trey from the top of the key on the next possession to put the Norse up for good, 32-29. “What was key was to make a shot early to give us some confidence because we shot so poorly (in the first half),” Bezold said. “But when you shoot 30 percent and you’re only down four at halftime, you feel pretty good about it. You feel like in the second half you’re going to rebound and your shooters are going to make shots. Then they’re going to have to play pretty well just to stay with you.” The shots did start falling. NKU made 15 of 26 second-half shots and held off the Panthers and their sharp-shooting from the free-throw line. Kentucky Wesleyan made its first 17 free throws and finished 23-for-24 from the line to go along with 18-for-39 shooting from the field. “We knew we weren’t playing the first half to our best ability,” Humphrey said. “Coach just told us to keep confident, keep shooting, have confidence. This is our gym. At the end of the game, we’ll be victorious. “The game is full of runs, and I don’t think they really responded to the one we had at the beginning of the second half.” DeAaron Williams added eight points, two blocked shots and four rebounds for the Norse, who travel to Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday for an 8:30 p.m. contest. Scott Bibbins dished out seven assists and had two steals NKU, while Teague finished with eight points.
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