Rivermen Fall to 12th-Ranked NKU

Northern Kentucky Beats UMSL 64-52

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL men’s basketball team dropped a hard fought game to Northern Kentucky, losing 64-52 Thursday night to the 12th-ranked team in the country.

UMSL fell behind early in the opening minutes as Northern Kentucky jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead by the 12:45 mark. The Norse pushed that lead out to a 19-9 advantage at the 10:20 mark before the Rivermen fought back. UMSL would slowly cut into the lead, trailing by just three points at 22-19 after Ronnie Banks three pointer at the 6:19 mark. The Norse would then close the last six minutes of the second half with a 6-0 run and took a 28-19 lead going into halftime.

In the second half, Northern Kentucky added to that six-point run to end the first half, scoring the first 11 points of the second half to extend their lead to 18 points at 39-21 at the 16:41 mark. UMSL could get no closer than 12 points the rest of the game, cutting the score to 51-39 at the 8:49 mark before the Norse scored the next 11 points to lead 62-39 with just over five minutes left to play. The Rivermen would then close the last five minutes with a 13-2 run for the final of 64-52.

UMSL was led by Jo’Van Fisher with 12 points of 5-of-6 shooting from the field, and a team-best eight rebounds as well. Ronnie Banks added 11 points and Jared Pratt scored nine points for the Rivermen. Northern Kentucky had four players in double figures, led by Mike Kelsey with 17 points, and three players with 13 points in the game.

UMSL is now 5-9 on the season and falls to 2-7 in the GLVC. The Rivermen will be in action again on Saturday afternoon when UMSL hosts Indianapolis at 3:15 pm.