by Chris Raimondi (Staff Writer)
KSU’s men’s basketball team dropped its third straight game at Northern Kentucky Saturday night, falling 82-69.
Delbert Love led the team in scoring for the second game in a row with 15 points, adding his name to the list of four Owls in double digits. KSU began the game shooting lights out, but NKU made adjustments at halftime that hindered the Owls offensive ability in the second half.
KSU shot 67 percent in the first half while going 5-7 from three-point territory and sinking 13-16 free throws. Though, the Owls never gained a lead greater than five in the first half.
The game began on a low note for KSU as sophomore forward Bernard Morena picked up a technical foul before the game started by dunking the basketball in warm-ups. The Norse sunk both free-throws and the game began 2-0 for NKU at tipoff. It would go on to be a game to forget for Morena as he recorded four fouls in only two minutes played.
After a jumper by NKU, the Owls quickly found themselves down by two possessions with under a minute into the game. However, KSU rebounded fast and immediately began trading baskets with the Norse.
Senior Andrew Osemhen went a perfect 5-5 from the field and led the game in first-half scoring with 11 points. Osemhen would finish the game with 12. Despite the strong offensive display, KSU couldn’t shake the Norse.
The first half saw seven ties and five lead changes and remained relatively clean with only nine turnovers between the two teams. KSU gained the lead at 13:25 remaining in the first half and was able to hang on to the advantage until a Todd Johnson layup at 5:14 gave the Norse a one point lead.
NKU would go on to extend its lead to five, but the Owls would fight back and go on an 8-4 run to close the half. The 67 percent shooting, however, wasn’t enough to take a lead into the locker room as KSU would finish the half down by one at 42-41.
The second half would continue as a close contest through the first 10 minutes of action. With the Owls trailing by four at the 16:40 mark, Orlando Coleman caught an elbow above the shoulders which is an automatic technical. Delbert Love would convert both free-throws, cutting the lead to two, followed by a Nate Rucker layup which tied things at 48. Rucker finished with 14 points and Coleman would lead the team in rebounds with six to go along with his seven points.
Jordan Jackson would then earn three points the old fashioned way at the other end for the Norse, putting NKU up by three. The Owls would again respond quickly with two layups inside by Willy Kouassi and Rucker, giving KSU the one point advantage. However, that lead would be quickly erased and it would also be the last lead KSU would see for the rest of the contest.
With less than ten minutes to go, the Norse would heat up and gain a 10 point lead. The Owls would fail to keep pace, only managing to shoot 33 percent. NKU shot 58 percent in the second half and out-rebounded the Owls 20-11. KSU was successful in getting fouled by making it to the free-throw line 21 times, but the team failed to convert 10 of those opportunities.
KSU’s poor shooting ultimately led to their defeat as the Norse took the win, 82-69. After the game KSU interim head coach Jimmy Lallathin acknowledged the team’s poor play in latter half.We just hit that four-minute stretch in the second half where they went on a 12-4 run,” Lallathin said. “We gave their shooters good looks and they did what they had to do, we just couldn’t recover from that.”
KSU dropped to 1-6 in the A-Sun and 4-16 overall. The Owls will return home to the Convocation Center on Thursday night at 7 p.m. when they host Stetson.
