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Northern Kentucky tops Wright State, Norse to face Penguins
Norse the first higher seed to win
By PAUL OREN
DETROIT
Northern Kentucky finally restored some semblance of order to the Horizon League tournament on Sunday night.
The No. 4 Norse didn’t miss a shot for more than 10 minutes throughout the second half and became the first Horizon League team with a winning record to win at Motor City Madness this weekend with an 82-77 win over No. 5 Wright State.
Carson Williams scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the second half and LaVone Holland added 16 points and nine assists.
“I just didn’t want to be the next top seed to fall,” Northern Kentucky coach John Brannen said of the multiple upsets that have occurred over the first three days of the tournament. “I’ve gone through this league for two years, the coaching in this league and how well they prepare, there’s a tremendous familiarity with each other. There are some games the media perceives as upsets; I’m not sure the coaches feel the same way.”
Northern Kentucky will face No. 9 Youngstown State in Monday’s first semifinal contest at 7 p.m. No. 6 UIC, fresh off an upset over third-seeded Green Bay, will face No. 10 Milwaukee in Monday’s semifinal nightcap. The winners will meet on Tuesday night with a NCAA tournament berth on the line.
After seeing the Penguins knock off top-seeded Oakland and the Panthers upset No. 2 Valparaiso on Saturday night, Holland wanted to make sure he and his teammates kept a steady focus leading up to their quarterfinal contest with Wright State.
“Seeing (those upsets) happen, we had to basically lock in more,” Holland said. “We had to concentrate more on ourselves and not get too excited about the other side of the bracket.”
Northern Kentucky joined the Horizon League last season and Sunday’s victory marks its first Division I postseason victory. The Norse are eligible for the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history this season.
Youngstown State joined the Horizon League in 2001-02 and have gone one-and-done in the conference tournament in nine of the last 14 years. The Penguins have never made it to the Horizon League semifinals and their last time winning two games in the conference tournament game in 1998 when they fell to Valparaiso in the Mid-Continent Conference title game. Youngstown State returned to the semifinals the following year, but have failed to play this deep into the postseason in the last 18 years.
The Penguins and Norse split a pair of regular-season meetings this season with Northern Kentucky winning 83-70 at home on Jan. 5. The Penguins won 81-77 at the Beeghly Center on Feb. 18. Youngstown State Cameron Morse averaged 16.5 games against the Norse this season and will be sure to draw Brannen’s attention on Monday night.
“I don’t know if we did a good defensive job on him or if he missed some shots,” Brannen said. “(Morse) is a dynamic scorer. He provides a problem for every coach in this league. We’ll spend the rest of the evening looking into that and trying to put together a game plan for tomorrow.”