HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky men's basketball program clinched the team title at their Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers Thanksgiving Tournament with a 72-64 victory over LIU on Saturday afternoon inside Truist Arena.
With the win, NKU went a perfect 2-0 on the week and improved to 3-3 overall on the young season.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Northern Kentucky – 72, LIU – 64
LOCATION: Truist Arena – Highland Heights, Kentucky
RECORDS: NKU 3-3 (0-0 HL), LIU 1-5 (0-0 NEC)
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
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Sam Vinson and
Marques Warrick tied for the team-lead in points with 14 apiece, respectively. Vinson added six rebounds, five assists and three steals while Warrick chipped in four helpers, two boards and two swipes.
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Keeyan Itejere put on an absolute show with 12 points on a 6-of-7 night from the field to go with six rebounds and a career-best five rejections. The five blocks tied a NKU NCAA Division I era record that was set by Jalen Billups all the way back on January 6, 2013. Itejere posted highlight after highlight as he finished with a season-best 29 minutes played.
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Michael Bradley had another strong game running the point as he came off the bench to record 14 points, four steals and three rebounds in 32 minutes of work.
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Trey Robinson showed up in a big way with a perfect 4-of-4 performance from the field en route to nine points to go with four boards, three assists and a steal.
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LJ Wells added three points, two rebounds and a helper in 15 minutes of action.
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Cade Meyer also posted six points and five rebounds.
- Northern Kentucky had 44 points in the paint, 20 bench points, 19 points off turnovers and 13 fast break points.
- The Norse also had 13 steals overall, a new season-best for the program.
- It was a tale of two halves as LIU jumped out to a 34-28 lead after the first 20 minutes of play. Northern Kentucky bounced back in a big way in the second half as the Norse won the final 20 minutes by a 44-30 margin to seal the 72-64 win.
- Vinson was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player while Warrick joined him on the All-Tournament Team.
HIGHLIGHTS
POST GAME PRESSER
NEXT UP
The Norse will remain in Highland Heights for the Horizon League opener against Robert Morris on Wednesday, November 29 inside Truist Arena. Tip is set for 7 PM ET and the conference clash will feature a replica Horizon championship ring giveaway for fans presented by Central Bank.
Tickets for the contest can be purchased here.
FOLLOW NKU NORSE MEN'S BASKETBALL
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