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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky avenged a regular-season sweep by Detroit Mercy with a 77-59 triumph in Thursday's 2022 Keeps Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship quarterfinal at BB&T Arena.
 
Marques Warrick scored 25 points and No. 3 seed NKU punched its ticket to a fourth straight conference tournament semifinal by dispatching the No. 6 seed Titans. The Norse will play No. 2 seed Purdue Fort Wayne, Monday at 9:30 p.m. at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

STATS LEADERS

• Marques Warrick scored 15 of NKU's 31 first-half points and finished with a team-high 25 points. He went 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
• Trevon Faulkner added 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting with four assists.
• Bryson Langdon's two jumpers capped a 14-2 Norse run with 7:52 left remaining. He contributed 10 points and four assists with just one turnover.
• Chris Brandon finished with eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

TURNING POINT

• Detroit Mercy pulled within eight points with 12:37 left in the game. Marques Warrick found Adrian Nelson for a lay-up, launching a 14-2 run that gave NKU an 18-point lead. The Norse maintained a double-figure cushion the rest of the way.

FIRST HALF SUMMARY

• NKU made three of its first four field goals, including two 3-pointers by Sam Vinson. Trevon Faulkner's two free throws extended an 8-0 run over 1:46 and pushed the Norse ahead 11-6.
• Detroit Mercy answered with a 7-0 run for their first lead (13-11) while holding NKU without a field goal for more than 4:40. The Norse's hot shooting diminished to 30%, but Marques Warrick, fouled shooting a 3-pointer, converted two of his three free throws to ensure a 13-all tie.
• Although the Titans turned over the ball three times in short order, NKU remained unable to convert a field goal in a drought that spanned 8:34. Trevon Faulkner ended it with a floater in the lane at the 9:23 mark.
• That basket helped spark NKU's in the scoring department and before long, Marques Warrick's juke in the paint yielded another basket and padded an 8-0 NKU run. Detroit Mercy, meanwhile, slogged through a 7:14 drought and missed eight straight field goal attempts.
• Trevon Faulkner picked up his third foul with 5:37 left in the half. Still, the NKU stymied a Titans team that missed 13 of 14 shots in an extended stretch.
• Marques Warrick scored 15 first-half points on 5-for-7 shooting for the Norse, which led 31-21 at the break. NKU limited Detroit Mercy to 25.9% first-half shooting. The Titans did not make a field goal in the last 3:15.

SECOND HALF SUMMARY

• Chris Brandon secured his 10^th rebound of the game just three minutes into the second half. Half of his boards to that point were on the offensive glass; in the end, six of his 11 rebounds were on the offensive end.
• Trey Robinson's corner 3-pointer gave NKU a 38-27 lead soon after the first media timeout. When he added two free throws soon after, he matched his most points (5) since the Detroit Mercy game Feb. 5 at BB&T Arena.
• Trevon Faulkner buried a timely 3-pointer to widen NKU's lead to 10 points (43-33). Marques Warrick delivered a field goal at the 10:42 mark of the second half that fell within a 10-0 run, pushing the Norse ahead 52-35 advantage. NKU extended the run to 14-2.
• Detroit Mercy went 4:31 without a field goal. Season scoring juggernaut Antoine Davis missed six 3-point attempts and went 2-for-13 with five turnovers in his first 27 minutes, but he ended the Norse's 10-0 spurt with a driving layup at the 8:06 mark. Davis finished with a team-second 17 points behind Kevin McAdoo's 19.
• Marques Warrick converted a four-point play with 4:47 left after being fouled while hitting a 3-pointer. He also made two free throws soon after a technical foul was assessed on Titans coach Mike Davis.
• NKU outscored the Titans 46-38 in the second half and controlled the momentum until the final buzzer.

 
GAME NOTES

• NKU has reached the Horizon League Championships more than any other league team since 2016. The Norse have made four semifinal appearances in the prior five seasons. Milwaukee, Oakland and Wright State have made three appearances. Cleveland State, Green Bay and UIC have made two appearances. Youngtown State has made one.
• The Norse have ended the Titans' season in Detroit Mercy's last three conference tournament appearances (2022, 2021, 2019).  

 
UP NEXT
Third-seeded Northern Kentucky advances to the 2022 Keeps Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship semifinals Monday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. It faces No. 2-seed Purdue Fort Wayne at 9:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2.