HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University men's basketball team placed 11 players in the scoring column as it cruised to its third-straight home victory with an 88-44 win over IU-Kokomo at BB&T Arena Wednesday night.
Tyler White paced the Norse offense with 18 points to go with four assists and career-high four steals. Freshman
Drew McDonald posted career-highs in points with 13 and rebounds with nine in 11 minutes of play.
Cole Murray rounded out NKU's scorers in double-figures with 10, all in the first half, while
Jalen Billups and
Lavone Holland II added eight apiece.
The Norse shot 54.1 percent from the field (33-of-61) including 44.8 percent (13-of-29) from three after a 62.1 percent clip in the opening period. They held the Cougars to 31.5 percent shooting from the floor on the day.
Northern Kentucky won the rebounding battle, 42-26, and posted 24 total assists on 33 field goals.
Murray and Holland combined for the first nine points to help NKU out to an early 9-2 advantage as the squad never looked back.
The Norse defense held IU-Kokomo (4-9) to two field goals across the first eight minutes of action and led 18-5 with 13:37 left in the half after a 9-0 run was capped off by a White free throw.
A stretch of 11-straight points, sparked by a White triple at the 5:33 mark, propelled NKU to a season-high 49 first-half points as it held a 49-24 advantage at halftime.
The NKU lead continued to climb in the second half as the Norse led by 35 after a 12-0 run over five minutes. The Norse forced six turnovers in that span to hold a 63-28 lead with 13:55 to play.
The Norse close out the nonconference portion of the schedule on Wednesday, Dec. 30 when they travel to take on Toledo at 7 p.m. to open a three-game road swing.
NORSE NOTES:- The victory is NKU's third in the last four games as its home record improves to 4-1 on the season.
- The Norse forced 16 turnovers which they converted into 24 total points.
- With three rebounds against the Cougars, Billups is just seven away from posting 500 career boards. He would become the 21st player in NKU history to reach the career mark.
