NKU hosted the Green Bay Phoenix on Saturday. Fans filled Truist Arena to cheer on the Norse, who came into this game on an impressive seven game home win streak.
Green Bay, led by first-year head coach Doug Gottlieb, came into this game looking to right the ship in a season full of media mishaps, player departures and having their best player, who leads the nation in scoring, sidelined for an extended time due to injury that has culminated in an 11-game losing streak.
The action started in favor of NKU, who saw two jumpers by Sam Vinson and Randall II find the bottom of the net. Green Bay would not find their first points until four minutes into the game. LJ Wells would answer that lone score with his third three-point make of the season. Right before the break, Green Bay would find some momentum as a second three from Marcus Hall would cut the deficit to 7-6.
The next stretch would be one of pairs, as Josh Dilling would nail a pair of three pointers and a pair of and-one opportunities would be found by the Phoenix’s Mac Wrecke, and Keeyan Itejere for the Norse, who slammed home an emphatic alley-oop dunk over his defender to punctuate a run that led to a 16-11 lead for the Norse.
The Phoenix would rise and answer with a 12-0 run behind three point makes from Ryan Wade, Preston Ruedinger and Hall, who continued his hot start. The run would be capped off by three made free throws after Ben Tweedy was fouled on a shot from beyond the arc to put the Phoenix in the lead for the first time.
Trey Robinson would come out of the break and make a three of his own. Wade and Hall three pointers would answer that. NKU would find their way into the paint for contested layups by Itejere and Robinson. Dilling would then get involved in the offense again, this time driving towards the rim and connecting with Pettus II on a beautiful wrap-around pass that he shot in stride and connected to trim the deficit to 29-28.
Wells and Pettus II would connect on free throws for the Norse. The final scoring of the half would be on a baseline dunk from Wrecke and a Dilling fastbreak layup that would give him eight points for the half.
The half would end with a slim 33-31 lead for NKU after Pettus II blocked a last second attempt by Green Bay as the buzzer sounded for the intermission break.
The second half offense would get started much quicker than the first. Layups from Jeremiah Johnson and Hall would give the Phoenix a short lived lead before Sam Vinson took it back with a three pointer. Pettus II would make two free throws before Dilling added three more of his season-high 24 points. Gottlieb would call a quick timeout as they trailed 41-35.
Green Bay would then show why they are top three in three-pointers made per game in the Horizon League as they went on a 12-3 run, all fueled by connecting from the perimeter. A Robinson three would be the only points for the Norse in the stretch to even it up at 44.
NKU would then find momentum as Robinson went to his patented post-spin and score. Hubertas Pivorius would then get in the scoring column with a big three-pointer. A Wells post hook would put the Norse up seven in the blink of an eye. A Yonatan Levy contested layup would keep Green Bay in arms reach, only down five.
The Norse would then start to break the game open as Robinson would have five points in four minutes and Dilling would put it one of his six threes, followed by Sam Vinson finishing at the rim through traffic to go up 62-52 with just eight minutes left.
NKU would close out the game on a 16-8 run behind getting to the line on multiple occasions to the tune of 15 free throws in the second half.
The game would find its exclamation point on a Dilling three-pointer that he made despite contact and converted the free throw on the way to a 78-60 win for the Norse.
Dilling would also have a season-high in rebounds with eight.
The Phoenix are still looking for answers in an arduous season as they drop their 12th straight game and remain winless in conference.
NKU improved their home win streak to eight games and their overall record to 9-7. NKU finds themselves tied for second in the conference at 4-1 in Horizon League play.
NKU will look to improve its conference standings even more on Wednesday as the Norse take on the Penguins of Youngstown State who are atop the Horizon League standings. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.