MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Northern Kentucky men's basketball program went on a strong second half surge, but in the end a stellar Middle Tennessee State start was too much to overcome as the Norse fell to the Blue Raiders, 74-57 in the season opener for both squads at the Murphy Center on Monday.
 
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Northern Kentucky – 57, Middle Tennessee State – 74
LOCATION: Murphy Center – Murfreesboro, Tennessee
RECORDS: NKU 0-1 (0-0 HL), MTSU 1-0 (0-0 CUSA)
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Middle Tennessee started the non-conference clash off on absolute fire as the Blue Raiders held a 45-21 edge after 20 minutes of play. MTSU shot 51.6 percent from the field (16-of-31) and 46.2 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-13).
- The script flipped in the second half as Northern Kentucky picked up its play on both ends of the floor. The Norse found themselves down 58-31 with 14:15 left in the contest before they started to make their move.
- Northern Kentucky made it an 11-point game at 68-57 with 2:21 left as they outscored Middle Tennessee 26-16 over the 12-minute stretch. This included an 11-0 run from 12:25 to 9:36 and a 9-3 clip from 8:09 to 2:21.
- The comeback attempt ran out of time as Middle Tennessee tallied a 6-0 run over the final two minutes of the game to close out the victory.
- The Norse shot 51.6 from the floor (16-of-31) and 42.9 from three-point land (3-of-7) in the second half while holding the Blue Raiders to a 32.1 percent clip from the field (9-of-28) and 28.6 percent from three (4-of-14).
- Marques Warrick finished with a game-high 18 points (12 of those scored in the second half) to go with an assist and a steal.
- Sam Vinson recorded 13 points along with six rebounds, two assist and a steal.
- Trey Robinson posted a game-best nine boards. He added two points, two steals, a block and an assist.
- Michael Bradley paced the Norse with four assists and posted a +1 for plus/minus over his 24 minutes of action.
- LJ Wells (six points) and Fiston Ipassou (four) each finished with five rebounds apiece, respectively.
- NKU had 36 points in the paint, 16 bench points, 13 fastbreak points, 12 offensive rebounds, forced 12 turnovers and scored 11 points off of those turnovers.
 
 POST GAME PRESSER WITH DARRIN HORN
 
 
NEXT UP
Northern Kentucky remains on the road for another tough non-conference showdown, this time against Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena. Tip is set for 11 PM ET and the contest will be played in front of a national audience on both the Pac-12 Networks and on ESPN 1530.
 
 
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