Rivermen Late Surge Falls Short at NKU

Northern Kentucky Defeats UMSL 88-85

Highland Heights, Ky. – The Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team fell short in their conference opener, falling to Northern Kentucky by a score of 88-85, as a couple of second half runs were not enough for UMSL to take the lead in the conference opener.

The Rivermen dug a huge hole early in the game, as UMSL trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half. With the game tied at 14-14 early in the first half, NKU went on a 14-2 run to take control of the game early. The Rivermen would fight back late in the half and trailed by six, 42-36.

Late in the second half, UMSL made a serious run at the Norse to try and grab the lead, but could never get over that hump. After getting four-straight points from Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy), UMSL would get within five points on a jumper by Ronnie Banks (Birmingham, Mo./Phillips), 79-74, with just three minutes remaining. Northern Kentucky would respond with a three pointer to push the lead back to eight points, but the Rivermen did not give up.

After a some free throws by the Rivermen, UMSL trailed by five points at 82-77 when the Norse missed a pair of free throws on their end of the floor, giving UMSL a chance. The Rivermen responded well, getting a long-range three pointer from Sherome Cole (Sikeston, Mo./Richland) to cut the lead to just two points at 82-80. Brian Lewin would get a bucket for NKU and he then hit a free throw a few seconds later to push the lead back to five points at 85-80. After a steal on an inbounds pass, Jonathan Griffin would hit a layup and cut it back down to 85-82. Northern Kentucky would convert on free throws and lead 88-82 before Cole hit another three pointer from long range for the 88-85 final.

UMSL was led by Jonathan Griffin with 24 points in the game on 11-of-18 shooting, and he grabbed five rebounds. Ronnie Banks added 19 points and seven assists, Kevin Nordmann (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) had 16 points and Sherome Cole scored 12 points off the bench. Northern Kentucky was led by Brian Lewin with a game-high 29 points.

Missouri-St. Louis is now 2-3 on the season and is 0-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Rivermen will be in action again on Monday night when they play at Bellarmine at 8 pm ET.