Wednesday night Northern Kentucky Norse locked horns with the UT Martin Skyhawks at The Bank of Kentucky Arena. The Norse were fresh off of a two game road trip were they split the games. The Norse game into the game 3-3 and the Skyhawks were sporting a 3-2 record.
The first half was all about UT Martin’s guard play and size. The guards (Smith, Newell and Anderson) were able to get in the lane at will and if NKU played great defense UT’s size negated all of the hard work as they amassed 9 offensive rebounds. Marshun Newell finished the half leading the team in points, assists and rebounds (11, 3, 6) and his backcourt mate Deville Smith went to the half with 8 points, 1 assist and 3 rebounds.
NKU started strong until about the 7 minute mark, that’s when the offensive rebounds and the lane drive started take its toll. Jalen Billups got into early foul trouble and that didn’t help out the already undersized Norse. Chad Jackson and Tayler Persons both had solid first half for the struggling Norse. The Norse only shot 36% from the field.
UT Martin led 32-22 at the half.
The second half started real sluggish for the Norse as the Skyhawks continued to add to their lead and never looked back. The Skyhawks were led by their three-headed guard attack Alex Anderson, Marshun Newell and Deville Smith. The trio had 44 of the 71 points. Newell finished with a double double 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Norse had spurts were they looked like they could turn it around, but the slow start to the second half was too much for them to overcome Wednesday. The rebounding deficit was a key at as they lost that battle 37-22. The Norse had three players in double digits as Persons had 15 points, White had 12 points and Jackson finished with 10 points.
The Skyhawks won 71-56 and moved to 4-2 while the Norse dropped to 3-4. Next up for the Norse will be West Virginia on Sunday at 6 pm. This will be the third ranked team the Norse has played all year, like Coach Bezold said, “these games will get us ready for the conference.”
