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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Unless something drastic happens between now and early March, Thursday night marked Southern Indiana’s final visit to Regents Hall. And it's an evening the Screaming Eagles would rather forget. Dennis Gagai scored a career-high 29 points and set a Northern Kentucky University 3-point shooting record as the Norse coasted to a 78-62 win over Southern Indiana in Regents Hall. Gagai, a freshman guard from Ironton, Ohio, was 7-for-8 from 3-point range to set an NKU single-game record at 87.5 percent. “I was telling our radio crew that when I was down in the Albright Health Center shooting around, I could tell that I was shooting really well,” Gagai said after shattering the NKU 3-point shooting record of 77.7 percent, set by Brian Lawhon on Nov. 20, 1999. “When our guards are passing the ball as well as they did and getting me open, it makes it a lot easier to get me into that flow, so I give a lot of credit to those guys." NKU (12-2 overall, 6-1 Great Lakes Valley Conference) shot 60 percent from the field and defeated Southern Indiana for the first time since 2004. The Norse also kept sole possession of first place in the GLVC East Division with the victory. Going into Thursday, Southern Indiana (9-5 overall, 3-3 GLVC) had defeated NKU eight consecutive times. With this being the final season of basketball in Regents Hall, the Norse made sure the Screaming Eagles’ last visit to the old gym would not result in a ninth straight loss to the visitors from Evansville, Ind. NKU head coach Dave Bezold praised the NKU crowd for doing its share in the win. “It was just great to look over and see the student section being almost completely full, and I think that is a reward for what these kids are doing this year,” Bezold said. “Our fans want to see winning basketball and a good team, which I think we’ve got. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep this thing going, and the fans will continue to give us this type of support, because it was tremendous.” Scott Bibbins
added 18 points and four assists for NKU, while Harrison Morton
scored 10. DeAaron Williams added eight points off the bench, including
a pair of first-half dunks that helped the Norse build a 41-27 lead
at intermission.
“When he’s shooting like that, you just sit back and you watch him,” Bezold said. “I hope he can continue to shoot like he did tonight for the rest of the season, and we’ll have a chance to beat anybody on our schedule.” Norman Plummer led Southern Indiana with 22 points and 11 rebounds. The 6-foot-7 transfer from the University of Dayton was 9-for-14 from the field. “I thought we did a pretty good job of not giving (Plummer) clean looks very often. He’s just a handful, and I just give all of the credit to Harrison Morton and those guys for just battling him,” Bezold said. “I told Harrison that he had to wrestle a bear all night long and he’ll have to Saturday, too, because Kentucky Wesleyan has (Jeff) Fahnbulleh, and he might be the best post player in the GLVC.” Bibbins, who finished 6-for-10 from the field, drained a pair of 3-pointers in the second half that allowed NKU to coast past the visitors. “When we recruit guys, we look to see if they have something different to bring to the table and Scotty does,” Bezold said. “As far as match-ups, they tried to put a big guy on him, then they tried to put a little guy on him, but he just has that knack about him to figure out who is guarding him and how to get an angle to score. He’s capable of making plays off the dribble, which is another big thing.” NKU will meet Kentucky Wesleyan at 3:15 p.m. Saturday in a showdown for first place in the GLVC East Division. The Panthers, who have won nine consecutive games, defeated Bellarmine, 82-69, on Thursday night and are 14-2 overall, 5-1 in the GLVC. Gagai said he hopes the NKU students return Saturday, and that the Norse players notice the support from the home fans. “It is a great feeling when these fans come out and support us, and it gives us extra motivation to play the games like this,” Gagai said.
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