CLEVELAND – The Northern Kentucky men's basketball program found itself on the wrong side of a 64-63 decision to Horizon League foe Cleveland State inside the Wolstein Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
With the setback, Northern Kentucky now sits in a tie for third in the Horizon League with Milwaukee at 12-6 in conference play. The Norse are a game back of second-place Cleveland State (13-5) and two games back of leader Youngstown State (14-4).
 
With two games to go in the regular season, NKU controls its own destiny and can secure a first-round bye and a home game to open the Horizon League tournament with a win in either of its last two games. The Norse are at Detroit Mercy on Thursday and follow it with a clash with Oakland in the regular season finale on Saturday.
 
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Northern Kentucky – 63, Cleveland State – 64
LOCATION: Wolstein Center – Cleveland, Ohio
RECORDS: NKU 17-12 (12-6 HL), CSU 18-11 (13-5 HL)
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Marques Warrick led the Norse attack once again as the standout junior finished with 26 points along with three boards. It was the 25th game so far this season that Warrick has gone for double-digit points. He has now hit the 20-plus point plateau in four straight contests and 12 games overall this season. With his 554 points scored this year, Warrick is just 19 points from NKU legend Drew McDonald for the NKU NCAA DI era record and 110 points from Derek Fields for most points scored in a single-campaign all-time in school history. He is already ranked 10th all-time for most points scored in a season with two regular season games to go. Warrick is also now averaging 19.1 points on the year as he looks to become the first student-athlete in the NCAA DI era to average 20 points per game in a single season. The Lexington, Ky. native also moved into 11th all-time in program history with 527 career made field goals.
- Sam Vinson posted nine points along with four boards, three assists and three steals. With his 63 steals on the year, the standout sophomore is already ranked eighth all-time for most swipes in a single season in NKU history.
- Chris Brandon added seven points, five rebounds, one assist and a block in just 17 minutes of play. The fifth-year big man now has 271 rebounds on the season, a mark that already ranks fifth all-time in school history for a single campaign. He needs 37 more rebounds for the school and NKU NCAA DI era record as he looks to chase down Norse great Drew McDonald.
- With Brandon in foul trouble, Imanuel Zorgvol stepped up with a career-best nine rebounds to go with two points and two rejections.
- Xavier Rhodes chipped in seven points and a game-best four steals.
- A'lahn Sumler went for five points in six minutes off the bench.
- It was a tightly contested affair throughout the afternoon, as neither Northern Kentucky nor Cleveland State led by more than six in the contest. The game featured 11 lead changes and eight times that the contest was tied.
- The big difference was the battle in the paint as Cleveland State won the rebounding battle 42-31 and outscored NKU 36-38 in the paint.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The first half was an exciting 20 minutes of play as both sides went back-and-forth down the court. A Warrick three with 13 seconds left to play in the opening half gave the Norse a 34-32 lead heading into the locker room.
- Cleveland State started the second half on fire and jumped out to a 43-37 lead with 14:26 left to go in the contest.
- NKU answered right back to tie the game at 45-45 with 11:29 remaining.
- The two sides continued to trade blows and the contest was tied up once again at 57-57 with 2:44 left to play and again at 59-59 with 1:14 left.
- Cleveland State pushed it to a three-point lead at 62-59 with 32 seconds left.
- The ensuing Norse position was a scramble to get a shot off which ended with Jake Evans driving to the lane and getting fouled with four seconds left.
- Evans hit his first free throw and intentionally missed the second which bounced around and eventually fell into Cleveland State's hands. After converting on their two free throw chances, NKU answered back with a Vinson deep three to make it 64-63. With just .5 seconds left in the game, it wasn't enough time for the Norse to pull anything off as they dropped the 64-63 decision.
 
NEXT UP
Northern Kentucky continues its road trip to end the season as the Norse head to Detroit Mercy for a Horizon League clash against the Titans on Thursday, Feb. 23. Tip is set for 7 PM ET. The game will be featured in front of a national audience on ESPN+ and can also be heard anywhere in the country on ESPN 1530.
 
 
FOLLOW NKU NORSE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Get in the game and follow Northern Kentucky's NCAA Division I college basketball team through @NKUNorseMBB on Twitter, @nkunorsembb on Instagram, nkunorsembb on Facebook and subscribe to the NKU Norse Youtube channel.