The NKU men’s basketball team opened up their season on the road in Tallahassee, FL to face off against the Florida State Seminoles.
The Norse’s first bucket of the season came from transfer Dan Gherezgher, as he threw down the hammer to give NKU the very early 2-0 lead. After a three and a dunk allowed the Seminoles to retake the lead, Trey Robinson would respond with his own 5-0 run to put the Norse back on top 7-5.
After a Gherezgher free throw gave the Norse an 11-10 lead with 14 minutes to go, a Jerry Deng three would push Florida State on a two minute 8-0 run. For the rest of the first half, the Norse would struggle to pull any closer than five points.
Another large reason for this run was the elite play of Daquan Davis off the bench for Florida State. In a first half that saw NKU score only four points off the bench, the troop from the Seminoles bench brought the frenzy to NKU’s defense. They scored 19 total first-half bench points, with Davis scoring six and three other players scoring three.
The Seminoles also brought elite defensive intensity in the first half, as they generated 10 turnovers from an astounding seven steals and three blocks. They also forced Geherezgher into four turnovers in his six minutes of play in the first half, while simultaneously holding him to zero assists.
A bright spot for the Norse was the efficient play from Keeyan Itejere, who came off an injury near the end of last season that limited him from playing his best. He opened the season with 3-5 shooting in the first half for seven points and a block that he so famously creates from his otherworldly athleticism that allows him to jump out of the gym.
Seminoles Jamir Watkins and Taylor Bowen both dominated the defense of the Norse in the first half, as Watkins shot a cool 4-6, including a three, to score nine points that rang merrily with his two steals. Bowen powered through the paint for 15 points in the first half, as perfect shooting from the line complimented his 5-7 shooting from the field. LJ Wells even found himself getting pick pocketed by Bowen early.
Florida State kept their foot on the gas in the first half, as NKU would find themselves trailing 43-31.
The second half saw both teams go punch for punch, as both scored 31 points, but the first half deficit created by the Seminoles proved to be too much to overcome.
After Florida State nearly tripled NKU’s points in the paint in the first half (28-10), they held the same story in the second half, as they racked up 16 more points down low to NKU’s six.
12 more turnovers from the Norse made a comeback even tougher, as four Norse had four or more turnovers in the game. Florida State continued to capitalize off these mistakes, as they tagged on eight more points to total out to 22 points off of turnovers.
Transfer Josh Dilling brought the heat in his first start for the Norse, finishing with a team high 18 points on 5-14 shooting, but went a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
Randall Pettus II was the leading presence off the bench for the Norse, as he had the second most points on the team with 12 and finished shooting 6-7 from the free throw line.
The Norse start off their season with a 74-62 loss, and they will travel to West Lafayette, IN to showdown against the 14th nationally-ranked Purdue Boilermakers this Friday at 7 p.m.