NKU men’s basketball celebrated the careers of five seniors as they hosted the Youngstown State Penguins on Saturday. Those seniors were Sam Vinson, Keeyan Itejere, Josh Dilling, Hubertas Pivorius and Jake Evans.
The Norse were looking to extend a three-game winning streak.
The Norse won the tip and were the first to score with a pair of free throws from Trey Robinson. Ty Harper responded quickly for the Penguins with a jumper to tie it. After the teams exchanged free throws, YSU gained some momentum with a couple of three pointers and a layup before being answered by the Norse, courtesy of seniors Vinson and Itejere, as YSU held a slim 12-10 lead.
The teams went back and forth with layups in a tight game. Siem Uijtendaal changed the scoring with a shot from range. Two more buckets from Itejere and Vinson quickly gave the Norse back the lead at 17-16.
The teams continued to respond to each respective score. After Vinson tied it up at 20, YSU scored on three straight trips. That is when NKU started to pick up steam as Josh Dilling hit back-to-back threes to regain the lead. Randall Pettus II continued the avalanche with a floater in the lane to go up three and force a Penguins timeout with the score at 28-25.
Robinson began to catch fire for NKU, scoring six straight. That run was halted by another Uijtendaal three from range. Dan Gherzgher Jr. added to the NKU tally with a mid-range jumper. Those were the last points before Ty Harper climbed the mountain named Keeyan Itejere to slam home a SportsCenter worthy dunk. After the dust settled, the score showed a 43-35 NKU lead heading into halftime.
NKU picked up where they left off as Vinson scored through traffic and Itejere hit a push-shot style jumper. Harper responded to Itejere again, this time with a three. Robinson responded for the Norse with his go-to post spin and score. Itejere added to his highlight-worthy day with two straight dunks to force the YSU timeout and give NKU a 57-41 lead.
Dilling hit a three to give NKU their biggest lead of the day of 19. The Penguins answered with an 8-0 run to stay within reach. The clock hit 12 minutes as LJ Wells scored to make the lead 62-49.
Dilling added five more points right after, including one of his seven threes on the day. Robinson connected on two free throws between two straight scores from Juwan Maxey. A Harper three followed to make it a 12-point contest.
YSU was able to cut it back to single digits behind scores from four different Penguins. Maxey splashed in a three and Cris Carroll swished in a fadeaway to keep the comeback efforts alive.
All momentum was quickly extinguished as Dilling scrambled to find space at the end of the shot clock. Dilling jumped off one foot leaning forward and banked in the circus shot to put the Norse up nine with only four minutes left in the game.
The Penguins cut it to four, but a Vinson driving layup and another three-point bomb as the shot clock expired—this time from Gherezgher—sealed the 88-79 win for the Norse.
The victory made it four in a row for NKU and gave them win number seven out of the last nine.
NKU Head Coach Darrin Horn talked about the impact the five seniors had on him and the program.
“We got really special dudes…these are guys that have given so much to the program and have been about winning,” he said. “We are nothing without our players. That’s what this is about.”
NKU finishes the regular season 16-15 overall and 11-9 in Horizon League play. They will start their quest of another Horizon League championship and NCAA tournament berth at home on Tuesday against the Detroit Mercy Titans. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m and can be seen on ESPN+.