Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team opened its final road trip of the 2021-22 regular season Thursday, falling to Northern Kentucky, 78-62, in Highland Heights, Ky., at BB&T Arena. The Colonials slipped to 7-22 (.241) overall during the 2021-22 season, including 5-15 (.250) in the Horizon League.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Northern Kentucky grabbed its first double-digit advantage with less than five minutes gone in the contest, as a jumper from Bryson Langdon helped give the Norse a 16-6 advantage. The bucket was part of a 16-4 surge for NKU after junior forward
Matt Mayers opened the scoring in the contest with a jumper off a feed from sophomore guard
Enoch Cheeks. Marques Warrick scored 20 of his game-high 30 points in the first half to bolster the Norse, shooting 6-for-11 from the field, including 5-for-6 from beyond the arc, and 3-for-4 at the free-throw line, in the opening 20 minutes.
QUOTABLE
"We weren't ready to play," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole said. "A number of the three's that (Marques Warrick) took we just stood around and watched him. They were the aggressor and locked in, and we just weren't able to fight back. They pressed our guys every time, and that's something we went over in scout, but a lot of times we just didn't give the game the effort it deserves. Where it gets frustrating for me is if you give it your best for 25 minutes and then run out of gas, then we gave it all we had. We just want to roll the dice and hope someone misses or hope we're going to get a call. We don't control the things we can control, and that's been something that has creeped in all season long unfortunately."
PUSHING IT
Warrick hit a three-pointer on three consecutive possessions, the last of which came with 9:15 remaining in the first half and helped Northern Kentucky open up its biggest advantage of the stanza, 34-17. Overall, Warrick finished 7-for-10 from beyond the arc as the Norse knocked down 10 three-pointers and overall converted 49.2 percent (31-for-63) of their shots from the floor. RMU converted 52 percent (13-for-25) of its attempts in the first half and 48.1 percent (26-for-54) overall as sophomore guard
Kam Farris came off the bench to pace the Colonials with 14 points.
QUOTABLE
"It was nice to see Kam get his shooting touch back," Toole said. "If he can get into a rhythm that's only going to bolster us. He certainly needs to continue to focus on the defensive end, but since he's battled back from COVID you can see he's getting healthy and that shooting ability is back to where he it was before he was out."
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
In addition to the 14 points from Farris, senior forward
Kahliel Spear pushed his streak for double-figure scoring games to eight by scoring 12 points. He also grabbed four rebounds. Mayers chipped in 11 points and a team-high six caroms, while Cheeks added 10 points, four boards and four assists.
QUOTABLE
"The good teams in this league are trying to get ready to play their best basketball as we close in on the conference tournament," Toole said. "Northern Kentucky was locked in tonight, and they're ready for this time of year. We're going up against another team in Wright State Saturday that's looking to do the same thing. For us it's another opportunity to put on the jersey and go out and compete. You only have so many times to do that at this level of basketball. Hopefully our guys can take advantage of that."
UP NEXT
The Colonials head to Dayton, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 26, for a 7:00 p.m. tip against Wright State at the Nutter Center.
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