Junior Angelo Warner posted a game-high 25 points and senior Chad Posthumus yanked down a game-best 16 rebounds to help the Morehead State men's basketball team earn a 74-61 win over Northern Kentucky on Tuesday night (Nov. 19) at The Bank of Kentucky Center.
The Eagles, who play basketball in the Ohio Valley Conference, improve to 4-1 on the season with their second consecutive victory and second road win in 2013-14. The Norse, which plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference, slips to 0-4 overall. MSU also moves to 6-0 in the all-time series vs. NKU.
"I was concerned about this game going in because we had an emotional high with a huge win over Marshall on Sunday, and I didn't want us to have a letdown tonight," Head Coach Sean Woods said. "We didn't play our best game against Northern Kentucky, but we did enough to get the victory."
Morehead State began the contest with a 16-3 run, but Northern Kentucky responded with a 16-6 spurt to keep the game tight. The Eagles then used a 14-0 run early in the second half and never trailed the rest of the way. MSU's largest lead of 15 points came with 3:20 remaining in the game.
"We had a great start to the game, but give Northern Kentucky credit for fighting back and getting back in it," Woods said. "Our early second-half run and defense were the differences tonight. We contested most of their shots, forced a bunch of turnovers and rebounded the ball fairly well."
Warner, who made 7-of-13 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, matched his career high in the scoring column for the second time in eight days. He has now reached double figures 37 times and the 20-point plateau on four occasions in 69 career contests at Morehead State.
Posthumus notched his third consecutive 10-rebound performance and the ninth in his 38 career tilts at MSU. Posthumus entered the day third in the OVC with 10.8 boards per contest, while Warner began the game tied for seventh in the conference with a team-best scoring average of 15.0.
Morehead State turned 21 Northern Kentucky turnovers in 29 points. The Eagles also registered upper hands of 41-31 in rebounds, 30-20 in paint points, 18-11 in second-chance points, 13-7 in assists and 7-5 in steals. MSU also limited NKU to 38 percent from the floor (18-of-47).
Senior Bakari Turner added 14 points off the bench for the Eagles. Junior Kareem Storey handed out a game-high six assists with just one turnover. Warner added nine rebounds, while senior Drew Kelly added seven boards in just 23 minutes.
"Angelo, Chad and Bakari were all big for us tonight," Woods said. "Angelo is becoming Mr. Consistency with the things he does for us, Chad really dominated the backboards on both ends and Bakari gave us a lift off the bench. We need production from those guys to be successful."
Freshman Dean Danos paced Northern Kentucky with 13 points on 8-of-8 from the charity stripe, while sophomore Jalen Billups tallied 11. With the help of both players, the Norse reserves managed a 43-28 scoring advantage off the bench.
MSU continues its five-game road trip on Friday (Nov. 22) at Pac-12 Conference powerhouse UCLA. Tip-off is slated for 11 p.m., and the contest will be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks. The Eagles will also face Nevada, Chattanooga and either IUPUI or Gardner-Webb on the West Coast.
