Box score |
Video highlights
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Angelo Warner scored 15 of his 25 points in the second half Tuesday night as Morehead State rallied for a 74-61 win over Northern Kentucky in The Bank of Kentucky Center.
Warner also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out three assists for the Eagles (4-1), who used a 14-0 run early in the second half to turn a 39-35 deficit into a 49-39 advantage with 12:25 left on the clock. Bakari Turner capped the Morehead State spurt with a layup off an assist from Kareem Storey after a Norse turnover.
Northern Kentucky (0-4) sliced the Morehead State lead to 56-52 with 7:10 remaining when
Dean Danos converted two free throws, but the Eagles responded with an 11-0 run to extend their advantage to 67-52 on a dunk by Warner with 3:20 remaining.
Turner buried a pair of key 3-pointers to ignite the decisive Morehead State run.
Danos scored a career-high 13 points to lead the Norse, who committed 21 turnovers and shot 38.3 percent from the field. Northern Kentucky rallied from an early 16-3 deficit and owned a 33-32 lead at halftime as
Jalen Billups came off the bench to pour in all 11 of his points before the break.
The Norse's bench, in fact, outscored Morehead State's 27-11 in the first half.
"We continued to battle back, wound up taking the lead in the second half by four or five points, but at the end when you look at the stat sheet, we have 21 turnovers," Norse head coach
Dave Bezold said. "You look at our shooting percentage from 3-point range and we're shooting about 25 percent from there or less, it's very difficult right now. It's going to be difficult to win a game with those numbers. But I think our team got a little bit better today, but there's some things we have to shore up."
Turner finished with 14 points for Morehead State, which shot 43.1 percent from the field and won despite missing 16 free throws (23-for-39 at the line). The taller Eagles owned a 41-31 edge in rebounds, led by Chad Posthumus with 16 boards.
Deontae Cole added a career-best nine points for Northern Kentucky, while
Daniel Camps scored eight.
Cole Murray finished with seven points and five rebounds, while teammate
Jake Giesler grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots.
Danos, a freshman guard, also dished out three assists to lead the Norse.
"I feel like I'm getting more and more confident as the season goes on. My guys make me more confident," Danos said. "As of right now, it's not about how I'm playing, it's about getting wins, so obviously I'm not playing well enough since we don't have anything in the win column. When I play well, that's when I feel we'll win."
Morehead State is now 6-0 all-time against Northern Kentucky. The two teams had not met since Nov. 29, 1993, when the Eagles pulled out an 85-79 win against the Norse in Morehead, Ky.
Northern Kentucky next travels to New Orleans, La., to meet Tulane on Saturday. The tipoff is set for 10 p.m. Eastern time.
