Northern Kentucky University Athletics

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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – David Palmer scored 19 points and blocked three shots to lead Northern Kentucky University to a 96-73 win against Lake Erie in the first round of the John L. Griffin/Lions Club Classic Friday night.

Dustin Maguire and Dennis Gagai each added 14 points for NKU (1-1), which shot 58.3 percent from the field. Maguire and Gagai both knocked down four 3-pointers as the Norse finished 13-for-20 (65 percent) from behind the arc.

Scott Bibbins dished out a career-high 12 assists and added six points for the Norse. The NKU single-game record for assists is 14, set by Craig Conley on Feb. 22, 2001, against Missouri-St. Louis.

The Norse led by as many as 27 points in the second half and remained perfect (14-0 all-time) in The Bank of Kentucky Center.

“It was good to play in the arena and open the home season on a good note,” NKU head coach Dave Bezold said. “I felt like we did a very nice job of moving the basketball tonight. Lake Erie does a really good job of putting pressure on you. They make you do some things you're not used to doing.

“They try to speed you up, and you can see that by the 96 points we put on the board, which is about twice as many as we scored a few days ago up at Grand Valley State. It was nice to see us play very unselfish tonight. We had a tremendous assist to turnover ratio, which was close to a record.”

NKU drained eight shots from 3-point range during the first half to help build a 49-32 lead at the break. Gagai, a junior guard, came off the bench and buried a trio of 3-pointers in the first half.

Ethan Faulkner, Corey Sorrell and Tony Rack all scored eight points for NKU, which finished with a 43-12 advantage in bench points. The Norse committed just five turnovers and were perfect (13-for-13) from the free-throw line.

“It is something that we definitely work on a lot in practice,” said Palmer, the 6-foot-9 transfer from Iowa who made all nine of his free throws. “We take pride in knowing that if someone is going to foul us, we're going to step up to the line and make them pay.”

Chris Knight finished with five rebounds, three steals and six points for NKU, while teammate Erik Stenger added seven points off the bench.

Joe Roberts led Lake Erie (1-2) with 21 points. The Storm shot 55.8 percent from the field and were 4-for-10 from 3-point range.

“We just have to do a better job of getting out and guarding guys,” Palmer said. “They scored 73 points and a lot of it was just us not closing out right and not guarding right. They did make a lot of tough shots, but they really got going because we didn't really close out hard at first.”

NKU will face Christian Brothers in the championship game at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. Christian Brothers upset No. 14 Tusculum, 47-43, in the other first-round game Friday.

NKU and Christian Brothers have not met since the 2003 championship game of the John L. Griffin/Lions Club Classic. Christian Brothers defeated NKU in that contest, 66-55, in Regents Hall.