By Don Owen
NKyTribune sports editor
The unimaginable became a nightmarish reality for Northern Kentucky on Friday evening inside BB&T Arena.
IUPUI — which was 0-6 all-time against NKU in games at Highland Heights — departed BB&T Arena with a shocking 74-69 victory against the Norse. The Jaguars entered Friday night winless (0-4) in Horizon League play, but Marcus Burk poured in 27 points to lead the visitors past NKU.
NKU’s Marques Warrick (right) scores against IUPUI defender Elyjah Goss (32) on Friday night. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
Burk netted 18 points in the second half — including 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range — as IUPUI improved to 2-4 overall, 1-4 in the Horizon League. Burk entered Friday averaging 15.0 points per game.
IUPUI shot 53.3 percent from the field in the second half, including 6-for-9 from beyond the arc.
“Just too many mistakes defensively in the second half where we gave them too many easy looks or second-chance points,” NKU head coach Darrin Horn said.
NKU owned a 67-64 lead with less than three minutes remaining, but IUPUI used a game-ending 10-2 run to pull off the upset. Jaylen Minnett scored six points to key the spurt, and Bobby Harvey drained a 3-pointer with 1:42 left on the clock that gave IUPUI a 69-67 advantage.
Marques Warrick scored 20 points to lead NKU, which dropped to 5-7 overall, 3-4 in the Horizon League. The Norse shot 50.9 percent from the field but still suffered their third straight loss.
Warrick, a freshman from Henry Clay High School, has scored at least 20 points in four of the past five games. The Lexington native earned Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors on Monday for the fourth time this season.
Trevon Faulkner added 19 points and nine rebounds for NKU, while Adrian Nelson and David Böhm each netted 11 points. Nelson also grabbed seven rebounds as the Norse finished with a 34-29 edge on the glass.
NKU’s Trevon Faulkner (right) defends IUPUI guard Jaylen Minnett on Friday night. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
Harvey scored 10 points off the bench for IUPUI. The Jaguars finished 9-for-18 from 3-point range, with Burk draining six treys in seven attempts.
“They shot 66 percent from the three, and like 50-something (from the field) in the second half,” Faulkner said. “We’re just going to have to compete better.”
NKU still holds a 9-3 lead in the all-time series with IUPUI.
Horn said his team played better offensively than it did the previous week at Cleveland State, which swept the two-game series with the Norse. NKU — which has played four freshmen at the same time at various stretches — will need to improve quickly to have any chance at defending its Horizon League championship.
“I think we got to get better,” Horn said. “It’s a little late, even though it’s been a challenging year, to have any excuses for anything other than we have to play better.
“We can’t look around and try to figure out who’s going to get the job done. The guys that are on the floor have to get the job done, and we got to do a better job of putting them in position to do that.”
NKU and IUPUI will conclude the two-game weekend series Saturday at 6 p.m.
IUPUI 74, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 69
IUPUI (74)
Minnett 5-12 7-8 18, Burk 10-21 1-3 27, Goss 2-7 1-2 5, Harvey 3-7 2-2 10, DePersia 2-4 2-3 6, McClure 2-5 2-4 6, Seay 1-1 0-0 2, Pandev 0-0 0-0 0, Georgiadis 0-0 0-0 0, Carrasco 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-58 15-22 74.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY (69)
Faulkner 6-15 7-9 19, Langdon 1-3 0-2 2, Nelson 5-5 1-1 11, Böhm 4-5 1-3 11, Warrick 8-13 0-1 20, Robinson 3-9 0-0 6, Harding 0-1 0-0 0, Harge 0-1 0-0 0, Evans 0-1 0-0 0, Hupmann 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 9-16 69.
HALFTIME: NKU 30-28. 3-POINTERS: (NKU 6-23, IUPUI 9-18). REBOUNDS: NKU 34 (Faulkner 9), IUPUI 29 (Goss 7).
RECORDS: IUPUI 2-4, 1-4 Horizon League; NKU 5-7, 3-4 Horizon League.
NKU defender John Harge (10) blocks a shot attempt by IUPUI’s Bobby Harvey during the first half on Friday night at BB&T Arena. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
Don Owen is sports editor of the Northern Kentucky Tribune. Contact him at don@nkytrib.com and follow him on Twitter at @dontribunesport.
