The Norse traveled to the Nutter Center Friday for a quick road trip to take on the Wright State Raiders.
A long two from Solomon Callaghan started the scoring to give WSU the first lead of the game. Keeyan Itejere tied it with a hook shot in the lane. Michael Imariagbe displayed his hook shot skills to retake the lead for the Raiders. Sam Vinson tied it back up before Imariagbe went through Josh Dilling for an and-one. Dilling answered to cut it to 7-6.
The Raiders responded with a wide-open corner three from Keaton Norris and another deep basket from Callaghan. NKU concluded the first four minutes with consecutive buckets to cut the lead to 13-10.
Trey Robinson chipped it down to one with a fast break layup. Logan Woods came right back with a bank shot for WSU. The teams exchanged buckets before two straight Norse scores gave them their first lead of the night. Dilling finished off the run with a layup on a three-on-one break to put NKU up 20-17.
The teams exchanged layups before an Itejere finish was followed up by a three from Dan Gherzgher Jr off a Randall Pettus II assist to give the Norse an eight-point advantage. Two baskets from WSU cut it to 28-24 with just eight minutes left in the half.
The next stretch was initiated on a shot clock buzzer beater by Imariagbe. The Norse then rattled off three straight scores in the paint to go up nine. Callaghan began to heat up for WSU to keep them close as back-to-back threes cut it to 38-35 in NKU’s favor.
Free throws and a Dilling three quickly got the advantage back to eight. Imariagbe and Callaghan continued to keep the Raiders in it with buckets to end the half and settled the score at 46-41 with NKU clinging to the lead.
Imariagbe and Callaghan combined for 27 of WSU’s 41 first-half points.
The Norse were the ones needing an offensive spark to start the second half. WSU started the half with three straight turnovers, but NKU could only capitalize once as Dilling connected with Itejere on a thunderous alley-oop. That is when it became the Brandon Noel show.
Noel scored eight of the next 10 points to retake the lead for WSU, the first time since it was 17-16. Noel added a dunk and two more free throws. Gherezgher and Itejere scored to stymie the onslaught and keep the deficit at 55-54.
Jack Doumbia began to give WSU separation again, powering through Robinson for an and-one. The mini 5-0 run was capped off by a deep three from the logo where Norris found the bottom of the net. A Pettus three would be the only Norse points for the stretch before two more scores from Doumbia and a Noel layup forced an NKU timeout as the lead ballooned to 66-57.
A quick 6-2 Norse run gave life back to the visiting team. Noel split a double team to put in a layup and give WSU another eight-point lead. Robinson cashed in a three to answer, then two more free throws from Gherzgher off the first turnover for WSU since the beginning of the half trimmed the lead to three. Noel found space inside again for his 20th point, and Doumbia continued his great night to keep the Raiders’ lead at 74-72 heading into the last four minutes.
Doumbia scored first out of the last media timeout. Two WSU turnovers right after were cashed in by Gherzgher, who scored five-straight points to give NKU a 77-76 lead and force the Raiders’ timeout. After a WSU miss, Dilling split a pair of free throws to put the lead at two.
Doumbia tried to keep his heroics going, corralling the rebound, before going coast-to-coast into the teeth of the NKU defense right at Itejere who blocked it at the apex. Dilling then stepped up and calmly knocked down two high-pressure free throws to ice away the 80-76 Norse win.
NKU improves to 8-9 in conference, just one game back of the sixth spot with three games left. The next one on the docket is a tilt with IU-Indy for a Sunday matinee at Truist Arena. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.