NKyTribune staff
A pair of standouts from Northern Kentucky earned All-Horizon League honors on Tuesday as part of awards voted on by the 12 head coaches.
Trevon Faulkner was selected to the All-Horizon League second team, while Marques Warrick was voted the Horizon League Freshman of the Year. Warrick also earned a spot on both the All-Freshman and third teams.
Trevon Faulkner of NKU soars in for a dunk against Purdue Fort Wayne this season. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
Faulkner, a graduate of Mercer County High School and the 2018 Kentucky Mr. Basketball, averages 16.6 points per game while shooting 41 percent from the floor and 79 percent on free throws.
Faulkner also averages 5.4 rebounds a game, and distributes 2.5 assists and swipes 1.5 steals per game. The native of Harrodsburg registered six 20-point performances on the year, including a career-high 28 points at Kent State.
Going into the Horizon League Tournament, Faulkner has scored 929 career points to rank 38th in school history. He needs two points to pass Cole Murray (930 points) for 37th place and seven to move past Harrison Morton (935 points) for 36th place on the NKU all-time scoring list.
Warrick is averaging 15.9 points per game on 46 percent shooting, 37 percent from beyond the arc and 82 percent from the free-throw line. He also averages 2.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per contest.
Warrick elevated his play against league competition, ranking fifth in league-only games at 17.5 ppg. The Henry Clay High School graduate maintained his impressive shooting by making 47 percent from the field, 39 percent from long range and 83 percent from the charity stripe.
The Lexington native has recorded nine 20-point outings this season, and his seven Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors tied for the third-most in league history.
NKU’s Marques Warrick scores a basket against Illinois-Chicago. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
Wright State’s Loudon Love earned Horizon League Player of the Year honors for the second straight season. Cleveland State’s Dennis Gates was selected Horizon League Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
NKU is 13-10 overall, 11-7 in Horizon League play. The Norse earned the No. 4 seed in the Horizon League Tournament and will host a quarterfinal matchup on March 2 at 7 p.m.
The Norse will likely face No. 5 seed Detroit Mercy — which meets 12th-seeded Robert Morris in a first-round game this Thursday — in that quarterfinal contest.
NKU and Detroit Mercy did not meet this season. A year ago, the Norse and Titans split two games with the home team winning each time.
Cleveland State is the No. 1 seed for the Horizon League Tournament, while Wright State is the No. 2 seed. The Vikings and Raiders shared the regular-season title with 16-4 records. Oakland is the No. 3 seed, followed by NKU and Detroit Mercy.
Due to the unbalanced Horizon League schedule because of the pandemic, the tournament was seeded utilizing a formula that considered four factors — league winning percentage, strength of schedule, weighting road wins vs. home wins and number of league games played.
The first-round action in the Horizon League Tournament will consists of four games as No. 5 Detroit Mercy will host No. 12 Robert Morris, No. 6 Youngstown State plays host to No. 11 Illinois-Chicago, No. 7 seed Green Bay will face No. 10 Purdue Fort Wayne and No. 9 IUPUI will travel to No. 8 seed Milwaukee.
The tournament will be reseeded after the first round. NKU will face the highest-remaining seed, which would be Detroit Mercy if the Titans knock off Robert Morris.
2020-21 ALL-HORIZON LEAGUE
First Team (alphabetical by school)
Torrey Patton, Cleveland State
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Jalen Moore, Oakland
Tanner Holden, Wright State
Loudon Love, Wright State
Second Team (alphabetical by school)
Amari Davis, Green Bay
Marcus Burk, IUPUI
Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky
Grant Basile, Wright State
Naz Bohannon, Youngstown State
Third Team (alphabetical by school)
Bul Kuol, Detroit Mercy
Te’Jon Lucas, Milwaukee
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Daniel Oladapo, Oakland
Jarred Godfrey, Purdue Fort Wayne
All-Freshman Team (alphabetical by school)
Lucas Stieber, Green Bay
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Micah Parrish, Oakland
Trey Townsend, Oakland
Shemar Rathan-Mayes, Youngstown State
All-Defensive Team (alphabetical by school)
Tre Gomillion, Cleveland State
Deante Johnson, Cleveland State
Tim Finke, Wright State
Loudon Love, Wright State
Garrett Covington, Youngstown State
Player of the Year: Loudon Love, Wright State
Coach of the Year: Dennis Gates, Cleveland State
Freshman of the Year: Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Defensive Player of the Year: Tre Gomillion, Cleveland State
Sixth Man of the Year: Matt Johnson, Detroit Mercy
(Information compiled from NKU Athletics Communications and staff reports)
