CLEVELAND  – The Northern Kentucky men's basketball team took down Cleveland State, 73-59, on Thursday night at the Wolstein Center. NKU is now 20-8 on the year and 12-4 in Horizon League action, while Cleveland State is 10-18 overall and 6-9 in league play.

STATS LEADERS

• Dantez Walton fired off for 22 points, which included a strong 5-of-11 (45 percent) outing from beyond the arc. The senior also pulled down eight rebounds in the contest.
• Jalen Tate contributed 16 for the Norse, having a great shooting night with a 7-of-16 (44 percent) mark from the floor. He added five rebounds, three assists and four steals to the ledger as well.
• Tyler Sharpe rounded out a trio of Norse in double figures, putting up 10 points and passing the ball for five assists.
• Adrian Nelson brought down 13 rebounds in the contest.

FIRST HALF SUMMARY

• Four different Norse hit shots to put together a 9-2 lead at the 14:43 mark. Walton had the opening basket of the game before Sharpe sank a three-pointer and Harris brought in a layup. Nelson capped off the solid start by taking an offensive rebound and tipping it in.
• The Vikings' offense made headway with a shot at 13:56 to go, but Faulkner kept the margin the same with a layup on the next possession.
• Langdon, Djoko and Sharpe hit three-pointers to make it a 10-point advantage for NKU at the midway point of the half. After the Sharpe triple, Tate ripped one away from Cleveland State and powered in a dunk to make it 22-10.
• Adheke contributed points on two-straight possessions for NKU beginning at the 6:27 mark. Harris dished a pass down low to him for another Norse dunk and then Tate fed the big man for a layup.
• The Norse lead stayed around 10 points until the final three minutes, where Cleveland State trimmed the deficit to go into the break down just 29-26. NKU missed is last 12 field-goal attempts to finish the half.  

SECOND HALF SUMMARY

• Cleveland State tied the game up just seven seconds into the stanza with a three, but the Norse made their next couple of shots to get back in front. Walton then made his next two three-point attempts to give NKU a 39-33 advantage.
• Walton sank one from deep again after layups by Tate and Sharpe, extending the lead to 11 points at 46-35 with 13:50 left.
• Two consecutive baskets by the Vikings brought the game to within two possessions, but Tate answered with a couple of jumpers and a dunk to hold the Norse steady at 52-41 with 10:09 left.
• Walton's dominance in the second half continued with his fifth triple of the night with 7:27 to go. The Norse senior then grabbed two offensive boards to eventually score a layup down low at the 5:56 mark.
• Sharpe threaded the needle over to Langdon with 4:42 left to surpass the previous largest lead of the night with a margin of 14. The Norse started to run away with it from there thanks to a Tate layup and a pair of freebies by Sharpe with under three minutes to go.

GAME NOTES

• The Norse had an outstanding night in the offensive-rebound department. Tonight's total of 21 is the second best of the season and led to 24 second-chance points. NKU's season high in the category was originally at 22 against Detroit Mercy on February 8.
• Tonight's five turnovers are also the second fewest of the year, with the lowest being four in the aforementioned contest with Oakland.
• The large edge in O-boards also won the Norse the rebounding battle. NKU is 14-0 this season when grabbing more rebounds than its opponents.
• This is just the second time in NKU's history where men's basketball team has won 20 games or more in four-straight years and the first time in the Division I era.

UP NEXT

NKU plays its penultimate regular-season game on Saturday at Youngstown State at 2:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN3 and can be heard on the airwaves on The Project (100.7/106.3 FM)