Sat., Feb. 23 - Macon, Ga. - 4:30 p.m.
Hawkins Arena (3,200)
NKU (9-14, 7-8 A-Sun) at Mercer (19-9, 12-3 A-Sun)
NKU Radio: WQRT 1160 AM
•Richard Skinner (play-by-play) & Steve Moeller (color)
Series Record: NKU leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: NKU 63, MU 46 (1-24-13)
NORSE NOTES (FIVE STARTERS & ONE)
1• NKU is 9-14 overall (7-8 A-Sun) after cruising to a 64-54 win at Kennesaw State on Thursday night.
2•
Chad Jackson scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead NKU, which presented head coach
Dave Bezold with his 170th career win.
3•
Ethan Faulkner finished with 14 points – all in the second half - and converted 10 free throws late in the game as NKU completed the season sweep of KSU.
4• Mercer was the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Sun Conference and is looking to post two straight 20-win campaigns for the first time in history.
5• NKU is 7-2 when scoring at least 60 points this season.
+1• NKU is 1-0 all-time against Mercer.
SHOWDOWN TIME: Northern Kentucky meets Atlantic Sun Conference-leading Mercer on Saturday in Macon, Ga., with the tip scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Northern Kentucky is 9-14 overall, 7-8 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Mercer is 19-9 overall, and the Bears are atop the A-Sun standings at 12-3.
The Norse are 1-0 all-time against Mercer, a 63-46 win earlier this season in Highland Heights, Ky.
ELITE COMPANY: Norse head coach
Dave Bezold picked up his 170th career victory Thursday night during a 64-54 triumph at Kennesaw State. Bezold is now 170-93 in nine seasons at Northern Kentucky. He reached the 170-win mark quicker than any previous Norse head coach. Retired Northern Kentucky head coach Ken Shields collected his 170th win during his 10th season.
IN THE CLUTCH: Norse senior point guard
Ethan Faulkner made 10 free throws in the final four minutes to seal the win at Kennesaw State. Faulkner finished with a season-high 14 points, all in the second half.
Faulkner also passed Deron Blasingame (688 career points) Thursday night for 49th place on the Norse's all-time scoring list with 696 career points. Faulkner is now closing in on Vincent Humphrey (698 points) for 48th place on the list.
In addition, Faulkner enters Saturday with 336 career assists, which is 12th in school history. He needs six assists to move past Ryan Schrand (341) for 11th place.
TOUGH DEFENSE: Northern Kentucky held Kennesaw State's Markeith Cummings to five points Thursday night, 12 below his team-leading 17.3 points per game average. Cummings was selected the A-Sun's top NBA prospect by a national publication.
CAREER GAME: Norse freshman
John Staley scored a career-high six points and grabbed a career-best seven rebounds against Kennesaw State.
AIMING FOR 1,000: Northern Kentucky senior guard
Eshaunte Jones enters Saturday with 951 points as a collegiate player. Jones scored a total of 287 points in two years at Nebraska, and he now has 664 points in two seasons with Northern Kentucky.
Jones leads the Norse in scoring at 15.3 points per game, which is sixth in the Atlantic Sun Conference. He has netted at least 20 points six times this season, including a career-high 26 points in a win over Mercer. Jones has scored in double figures 17 times this season.
POINTS AT A PREMIUM: Mercer leads the A-Sun in points allowed per game at 57.4. Northern Kentucky is No. 2 in that category at 61.0 ppg. The Norse are No. 4 in field-goal percentage defense at .433, while Mercer leads the league at .390.
MAGIC NUMBER: The Norse are 7-2 this season when scoring at least 60 points, but 2-12 when netting below 60 points.
NOT BAD FOR A BEGINNER: Northern Kentucky continues to lead the conference in attendance with an average home crowd of 3,127 per game. Mercer is second in home attendance at 2,630 per game.
BEZOLD IN FEBRUARY: Northern Kentucky head coach
Dave Bezold owns a 40-25 record in the month of February during his career.
THE LAST TIME AGAINST MERCER: On Jan. 24,
Eshaunte Jones poured in a career-high 26 points to lead Northern Kentucky to a 63-46 win over Mercer in The Bank of Kentucky Center. Jones finished 6-for-8 from 3-point range in that victory.
The senior guard also grabbed six rebounds as the Norse knocked off the Atlantic Sun Conference preseason favorite in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Ethan Faulkner and
Chad Jackson each added 12 points for Northern Kentucky, which held Mercer to 34.9 percent shooting from the field. Bud Thomas led the Bears with 16 points.
The Norse held Mercer without a field goal for the final 6:12 of the first half to go on a 14-6 run and close the half on top 26-18. NKU never led by less than five in the second half.
Jones scored 14 of NKU's final 22 points of the first half, making four treys before the break. Jones continued his hot shooting in the second half and finished the game 7-for-11 from the field overall, but after accounting for more than half of NKU's points in the first half, he received help in the second half from Jackson, Faulkner and freshman forward
Jack Flournoy.
Jackson scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half; Faulkner had nine of his 12 after halftime and Flournoy made two 3-pointers roughly two minutes apart in the final five minutes. They helped squelch a Mercer rally in which it got within 49-43 with 4:05 remaining. Jackson answered with a conventional three-point play, then two free throws and Flournoy made the second of his 3-pointers.
Mercer shot just 1-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half and finished 6-for-21 for the game, but only because Thomas made three straight treys in a span of 1:26, the last of which cut the NKU lead to 49-43.
Mercer won the CollegeInsider.com tournament a year ago, becoming the first A-Sun men's basketball team to win a postseason championship. The Bears defeated Tennessee State, Georgia State, Old Dominion, Fairfield and Utah State to claim the title and finish with a 27-11 record.
