Northern Kentucky University Athletics

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Northern Kentucky University men's basketball team begins a two-game road trip Thursday night by meeting Missouri-St. Louis at 8:45 p.m.

NKU concludes the road swing Saturday with a 4 p.m. game against Rockhurst. The Norse are 8-5 overall, 1-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

QUINCY HOLDS OFF NKU: Mookie Pierre scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed six rebounds Monday night as unbeaten Quincy posted a 73-66 win at NKU. Billy Baptist added 21 points as No. 22 Quincy improved to 13-0 overall, 4-0 in the GLVC. The Hawks shot 56.5 percent from the field and became the first opposing men's basketball team to defeat NKU (8-5 overall, 1-3 GLVC) in The Bank of Kentucky Center.

NKU was 19-0 all-time at home in the new facility going into Monday's game against Quincy. The Norse were 13-0 in The Bank of Kentucky Center in 2008-09 and 6-0 this season.

David Palmer scored 18 points to lead NKU, and teammate Corey Sorrell added 16 points. The Norse were 12-for-24 from 3-point range, with Sorrell and Tony Rack each making four treys.

Quincy led the entire second half, but the Hawks had to withstand a late NKU rally to pull out the victory. NKU closed to within a point (56-55) with 5:07 remaining when Rack buried a 3-pointer off an assist from Scott Bibbins.

Quincy countered with a layup from Courtney Belger and a conventional three-point play by Baptist to extend its lead to 61-55. After Palmer tipped in a shot to slice the Hawk lead to 61-57, Baptist drained a 3-pointer to give Quincy a 64-57 edge with 3:31 left on the clock.

Ethan Faulkner's 3-pointer cut the Quincy lead to 64-60 with 2:07 remaining. Belger made one of two free throws with 1:32 left to give the Hawks a 65-60 advantage. NKU had a chance to slice into the lead, but Baptist stole an errant pass and went in for an uncontested dunk to make it 67-60 with 1:07 on the clock.

NKU made 43.6 percent of its shots from the field. Quincy finished with a 32-23 advantage in rebounds and was 14-for-17 from the free-throw line.

SHOOTING STAR: NKU sophomore guard Tony Rack is shooting a GLVC-leading 70 percent (14-for-20) from 3-point range. Rack has made six of his last seven attempts from beyond the arc.

DOMINANT BIG MAN: NKU senior center David Palmer averages a team-leading 18.8 points per game. Palmer also leads the Norse with 20 blocked shots and in rebounding at 7.3 rpg. In addition, the 6-foot-9 Palmer is shooting 56.1 percent from the field.

ASSIST TO BIBBINS: NKU senior guard Scott Bibbins has dished out a team-leading 70 assists and has just 20 turnovers this season. Bibbins also averages 8.2 ppg.

THE LAST TIME AGAINST MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS: On Jan. 10, 2009, Dustin Maguire scored 20 points and A'Daeron Duncan added 16 as NKU posted a 69-62 win against Missouri-St. Louis in The Bank of Kentucky Center. The Norse used a 17-6 run late in the game to rally past the Tritons.

NKU owns a 16-6 lead in the all-time series with Missouri-St. Louis.

BREAK THE BANK DAY: NKU will play host to Bellarmine on Jan. 23 in a “Break The Bank Day” promotion in which all upper-level seats are $1. The NKU women meet Bellarmine at 11:30 a.m., followed by the men's contest at 2 p.m. Call (859) 572-6632 for information.