NKU’s men’s basketball team advances to 5-1 in the Horizon league after 91-76 win over Cleveland State Thursday night. Norse won their 15th game of the season and are 5-1 in conference play. Cleveland State drops their record to 5-15 and 0-7 in the Horizon League.

Junior guard Tyler Sharpe put up an impressive 23 points making five of six from the three point line. Senior forward Drew McDonald follows with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 rebounds, registering his 10th double-double of the season. Redshirt sophomore guard Jalen Tate and Graduate student point guard Zaynah Robinson both put 17 points a piece on the board.

Both teams had a strong first half, the Norse shot 56 percent from the field and Cleveland State made 49 percent from the field. However, Norse made more 3-pointers in the first half shooting 10-19 from deep.

Robinson contributed  from behind the arc in the first half, he made 4-of-5 three pointers putting up 12 points. Despite the better shooting half for the Norse at the end of the first half it was a close score of 48-41 with Cleveland State only down by 7 points.

In the second half of conference play, Tate made a layup giving NKU an 11 point lead. Then Norse led by double-digits the rest of the game.

Norse stayed consistent with shooting 41 percent from the field in the second half. Cleveland State also shot well in action with 45 percent from the field but couldn’t close out the second half.

The Norse made 32 points from within the paint for the game. The men’s basketball team is now 11-0 on the year when a player achieves a double-double.

NKU forced 10 turnovers and capitalized on those points throughout the game. The Norse are now tied for first with Detroit Mercy in the Horizon league standings with 5-1.

The next game for the Norse Men’s Basketball team is Saturday, Jan. 19 at Youngstown State. Tip off is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN3.