Box Score HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Jalen Billups and Cole Murray combined for 45 points, including 31 in the second half, to lead Northern Kentucky past the Norfolk State men's basketball team, 81-60, on Sunday night at BB&T Arena.
Billups was a bully down low, shooting 11-of-16 overall for 23 points and nine rebounds as NKU outscored the Spartans by 12 in points in the paint. Murray, meanwhile, connected on 6-of-8 from 3-point range, helping the Norse finish with 11 treys on the night. Murray tallied 22 points altogether.
NKU (2-5) made 11-of-20 from 3-point range and 31-of-54 overall (57.4 percent). The Spartans (4-5) scored just 21 points in the first half but only trailed by six at the break. Thanks in part to Billups and Murray, NKU scored 54 points in the second half to pull away.
The Spartans shot just 19-of-55 (34.5 percent) for the game and only 4-of-15 from long range. They did connect on 18-of-19 from the foul line, and their 94.7 percent clip from the charity stripe broke the previous Division I record of 94.4 percent (17-of-18) set against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 19, 2006.
Senior
Charles Oliver made 7-of-8 from the foul line and finished with a team-high 11 points for the Spartans. Senior
Jeff Short and junior
Jonathan Wade each scored 10 points, including the latter on 4-of-7 shooting.
Both teams struggled in the early part of a low-scoring first half, with NKU taking an 8-4 lead at 14:37 on a 3-pointer by Dean Danos from the right wing. The Spartans scored six straight, capped by a finger roll layup by Wade, to take a short lived two-point lead. It did not last long because the Norse used a pair of 3-pointers from Murray during a 10-2 run to push their lead to 18-12 with 7:42 left before the half.
The Spartans scored seven of the next eight points in the game to tie it up at 19-19, with Short hitting a pair of free throws at 5:36 to cap that quick 7-1 run. Northern Kentucky again responded, outscoring NSU 8-2 to close out the half. The Spartans went more than four minutes without scoring during that time before freshman
Alex Long sank a long two-pointer from the top of the key.
NSU trailed 27-21 at the break, the fewest points in a half this season for the Spartans. They shot just 7-of-26 and only 1-of-6 on treys.
Oliver completed a 3-point play and converted a fastbreak layup to cut the NKU lead to one early in the second half. After Oliver got the Spartans to within 35-32 on a pair of free throws, the Norse scored 10 straight to push their lead into double digits. That also marked the start of a larger 19-6 run that lasted five and a half minutes and stretched the lead to 16, 54-38.
NSU twice cut the deficit to 10, but the Norse continued to hit from long range. They shot 7-of-9 in the second half and 20-of-27 overall after the intermission. NKU led by as much as 24 late in the game.
Junior
Preston Bungei added eight points and a team-leading seven boards for the Spartans. Sophomore
Zaynah Robinson chipped in with six points, four assists, a career-high four steals and three rebounds.
The Norse outscored the Spartans 38-26 in points in the paint.
The Spartans will travel just up the road to play at No. 23 Cincinnati on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
