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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Northern Kentucky suffered a 72-58 defeat at reigning Horizon League Champion Cleveland State to begin league play. NKU slips to 2-4 overall and 0-1 against league foes, while CSU improves to 5-2 and 1-0, respectively.
 
STATS LEADERS

• Marques Warrick led the Norse with 14 points and David Böhm added 10.
• Seybian Sims converted a trio of threes or nine points.
• Adrian Nelson and Chris Brandon both hauled down eight rebounds.
• CSU's Torrey Patton tallied 20 points to lead all scorers.

TURNING POINT

• After Böhm pulled the Norse within one, 16-15, with 12:19 left in the opening half, NKU struggled to find the bottom of the net over the next nine minutes allowing CSU to take a 34-18 lead.

FIRST HALF SUMMARY

• Both teams started the game out on fire, with each converting over 50 percent of their shots through the first nine minutes. CSU held an 18-15 lead at the time thanks four points off of four NKU turnovers.
• The Norse then went cold for a three-minute spell before Vinson knocked down a freebie at the charity stripe. The Vikings then led 22-16.
• After the teams traded a pair of points each, Cleveland State used a 10-0 run to extend out to a 16-point margin.
• Northern Kentucky finished the half trailing 39-25 after hitting just 28 percent (9-of-32) from the floor and 17 percent (3-of-18) from long range.
• CSU converted 54 percent of its shots despite an 0-for-4 showing from three. It made 9-of-10 free throws.

SECOND HALF SUMMARY

• Five minutes into the stanza, Northern Kentucky whittled its deficit to 10. But, Cleveland State answered with an 10-0 run and 58-38 lead.
• Warrick buried a three to end the CSU run and Sims followed with his third trey of the game as NKU went on an 8-2 spurt that was capped with Nelson's dunk. That brought the margin back down to 14.
• From there on, scoring remained even and Cleveland State claimed the 72-58 win.
• Warrick poured in 10 of his points during the stanza.

GAME NOTES

• Northern Kentucky finished the game shooting 31 percent (19-of-62) from the floor and 23 percent (9-of-39) from three.
• The 39 attempts from long range tied NKU's program record, which was established twice in the late 1990s in games versus Kentucky State (Dec. 22, 1998) and Shawnee State (Nov. 23, 1999).
• Cleveland State shot 51 percent (27-of-53) for the game, but made just 1-of-11 (9 percent) from 3-point territory.

UP NEXT
NKU heads to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the third and final leg of its three-game road swing. The Norse and Mastodons square off at 1 p.m., at Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, Dec. 4.