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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Northern Kentucky University began the season by knocking off the defending national champion Friday night, but it was not an upset. In fact, the Norse's 82-68 victory over UC-Clermont was exactly the outcome everyone expected. UC-Clermont? Defending national champion? Yes to both. The Cougars captured the United States Collegiate Athletic Association national title last season and entered Friday night unbeaten (3-0). That mattered little against NKU, at least early in the game. NKU made its first seven shots from the field and jumped out to a 15-0 lead against the visitors from Cincinnati. A blowout appeared likely after David McFarland buried a 3-pointer to give the Norse an 18-2 lead less than four minutes into the game. "Early on, things came real easy to us. We made some shots and had a lot of energy. After that, I felt like we really got inconsistent on both ends of the floor," NKU head coach Dave Bezold said. "Offensively, we would settle for a quick shot or the first shot that we could get instead of really working the basket. "Then, defensively we were so sporadic in where we were supposed to be fundamentally in a scheme. We were fouling, and that led to their ability to come back and pull to within one point." The Norse held a 44-32 halftime lead, but UC-Clermont rallied in the second half with a 13-2 run to get within 46-45 with 16:29 remaining. NKU countered with a 9-0 run, capped by a driving layup by Harrison Morton. Dennis Gagai keyed the spurt with two baskets, and Anthony Teague hit a 3-pointer to begin the run. "When they cut it to one, we got a big shot out of Anthony Teague to give us a four-point lead. From there, we just had to buckle back down on defense because we were letting them penetrate too much," said NKU senior center Travis Rasso, who scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. "When they were penetrating, they were either getting to the hole or kicking it back out for a wide-open three. So buckling down on defense and hitting some big shots when we were open was huge." UC-Clermont guard Stefan Dunn, who was named the most valuable player at last season's United States Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament, led the way for the Cougars with 25 points. Dunn knocked down five 3-pointers and was 10-for-12 at the free-throw line. NKU placed four players in double figures, led by Morton and Gagai with 16 points apiece. Vincent Humphrey added 13 points and seven rebounds for NKU, while Rasso scored 12. The Norse (1-0) shot 48.5 percent from the field and held UC-Clermont (3-1) to 39.3 percent from the field.
"This team is going to be balanced this year," Rasso said. "We are going to have guys that can come off the bench and score 15 or so points. If not then we know our starters are going to score. Our team is very, very balanced this year." The Norse finished 11-for-26 from 3-point range and committed just 11 turnovers. Billy Finnell dished out a game-high eight assists, while McFarland finished with six assists. As a team, NKU totaled 24 assists on its 32 baskets. "If you look at our team, we’re almost all guards this year so we are going to put up some threes," Rasso said. "We also have to know that when those threes are not going down that we’ll need to go inside and get some points from there as well. When you hit shots from underneath, it is going to open up shots outside, and when you hit your shots from outside, it is going to open up things inside." On Saturday at 7:45 p.m., NKU will take on Findlay in a much-anticipated rematch of last season’s NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region semifinal game that the Norse won by a 60-56 score at Findlay, Ohio. NKU snapped Findlay’s home winning streak at 59 games with that victory. The Oilers - who knocked off Ohio State in an exhibition game last week - are ranked No. 5 nationally in the NCAA Division II poll. Findlay began the season Friday by posting a 79-63 win over No. 21 Christian Brothers in the other first-round game of the John L. Griffin/Lions Club Classic. "We have to play a lot better against Findlay to have any chance, because they are really good," Bezold said. "Findlay was very impressive against Christian Brothers, and the fact they beat Ohio State says it all. Findlay has a great program, they are extremely well-coached and they know how to win. This is going to be a very difficult game for us, but you have to play good teams to become a good team." |
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