Wednesday night the Northern Kentucky Norse faced off with
Atlantic Sun Conference mates Kennesaw State Owls. The Norse came into the game at 6-10 overall with an 0-1 record in conference. The Owls entered the contest with an 5-12 record overall and 0-1 in the conference.
The first half displayed a very solid performance from the Norse. Led by a strong showing from senior Chad Jackson who led the Norse with 13 points at the half on 6 of 8 shooting from the field. Todd Johnson was on fire from behind the arc shooting 3 of 4 with a total of 9 points. The Norse played very scrappy on defense which led to 5 steals. The Norse shot 45.7% from the field on a total of 35 shots and 85.7% from the free throw line on 7 attempts.
The Owls were led by swingman Damien Wilson who has 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field. Guards Delbert Love and Yonel Brown chipped in with 9 and 7 points respectively. Turnovers troubled the Owls in the first half as they committed 9.
NKU 41 Kennesaw State 34 at the half
The second half mirrored the first half for the Norse in the latter 20 minutes Junior Jalen Billups scored 11 of his 16 points along with 8 rebounds. He put his imprint on the games as he commanded double teams on a regular basis, allowing his teammates to get open looks. The Norse didn’t shoot as well in the second half only shooting 39.3% from the field on 28 shots. They also didn’t cause as many turnovers, but the Norse were able to hang on for their first Atlantic Sun victory of the season.
Damien Wilson and Yonel Brown did everything they could to keep the Owls in the game as they had a total of 42 points (22 and 20 respectively). The Owls couldn’t overcome the energy the Norse displayed throughout the game.
NKU won 76-72 to move to 7-10 overall and 1-1 in conference and the Owls dropped to 5-13 overall and 0-2 in conference..
Notes:
Chad Jackson his big first half, “It felt good to be back out there, I played limited minutes against Lipscomb being out with that face injury it just felt good to get my rhythm back.”
Jalen Billups on his big second half, “I’m always to happy to put my imprint on the game, just having teams respect me like that helps gets my teammates open and makes the game go much smoother.”
