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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (AP) - Northern Kentucky has proven in its first four Atlantic Sun Conference games that it can compete against league opponents, but finding a way to win has been much tougher to accomplish.
For the third time in four A-Sun games NKU couldn't quite overcome a poor first-half offensive performance and, despite holding East Tennessee State without a field goal for the final 9:17 of the game, the Norse fell short, 49-44, on Monday night before a crowd of 1,798 at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
All three of NKU's losses in the league have been by six points or less, and in all three NKU was either tied, had a chance to tie or a chance to take the lead in the final 30 seconds of the game.
“You have to keep grinding,” said NKU head coach
Dave Bezold. “We didn't make winning plays. The last seven possessions we had four careless turnovers. You can't do anything about that other than hope we make the right decisions on the floor.”
Despite never having the lead or being tied in the game, NKU had a chance to tie it with 13 seconds left, trailing 47-44. The Norse (3-9 overall, 1-3 in the A-Sun) had the ball on their own baseline, but freshman
Nate Snodgrass' lob attempt to a wide open
Ernest Watson went over his head and ETSU's Jarvis Jones made two free throws with 11 seconds left to seal it.
“There are two options: one was (the lob) and if not go to the perimeter and the lob was there, we just didn't execute,” said Bezold. “We have very little room for error and the margin for us to be successful is very thin and we can't afford those things.”
NKU had rallied from a 40-31 deficit with 9:17 left. A layup by Rashawn Rembert gave ETSU (3-12, 1-1 A-Sun) that lead, and it turned out to be the final basket of the game for the Buccaneers.
It was just the second home game of the season for NKU after playing its first 10 games as a Division I program on the road, and for the second straight game and third time in four A-Sun games it had a miserable first half offensively. It took the Norse almost seven minutes to score their first basket, by which time they trailed 9-1, and they wound up trailing as much as 24-14 with 1:50 left in the half before closing within 26-20.
“On the road the focus and the intensity were there all the time,” said Bezold. “At home it's like we're waiting and waiting and waiting and we're at home so everything's going to take care of itself instead of coming out and really having the energy. I think we're trying, but we just have gotten it solved yet.”
The Norse were just 7-for-19 from the field in the first half, thanks in large part to being forced to attempt 15 3-point attempts against an active ETSU zone that didn't allow NKU to get the ball inside. The Norse made two of their final three 3-pointers in the half after making only three of their first 12 attempts.
“Their zone really caused us problems the first half,” said Bezold. “Without a true post presence or threat it's very difficult for us to do certain things. Finally in the second half we were able to get a little more movement. We put (junior guard)
Chad Jackson down in there and he got some things done.
“We had certain things we were looking to do and it wasn't just swinging the basketball. It was swinging the basketball, but nobody moved. We felt like we had some very good practices and had a very god idea of the attack points and spots we wanted to go after, but doing it in practice and doing it on the floor has been a struggle the last couple of games for us.”
That continued a bad first-half trend for NKU. In its first two Atlantic Sun losses (53-51 to Jacksonville and 60-54 to South Carolina Upstate) NKU was just 15-for-47 from the field overall combined in the opening half thanks to taking 27 3-pointers in those games.
The Norse were 6-for-25 from the field overall and 3-for-12 on treys against Jacksonville and trailed 27-21 at halftime, and were 9-for-22 from the field overall (5-for-15 on 3-pointers) against USC Upstate and trailed 33-24 at halftime.
NKU wasn't any better shooting the ball in the second half on Monday, going just 8-for-24 from the field overall and 2-for-11 on 3-point attempts. Senior guard
Eshaunte Jones helped keep NKU in the game in the second half by scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points. No other player scored in double figures as Jackson's nine points were the next most and seven of those points came in the second half.
Jones said his team's performances in the league so far have him frustrated, but also hopeful.
“We're starting to come together and even though we're coming up short we got a lot positives out of this also,” said Jones. “But it's time to quit half-stepping and accomplish what we need to accomplish and get some wins.”
NORSE NOTES: NKU passed the one million mark in all-time home attendance Monday night, as the Norse men have now drawn a total of 1,000,312 since starting the program in 1971…Jones has averaged 18.3 points per contest during the past three games while coming off the bench.
