For the first time all season Head Coach John Brannen switched up his starting lineup when he moved sophmore Tyler Sharpe into the lineup over Jalen Tate, and the new lineup delivered a hard fought victory by the skin of their teeth over a Milwaukee Panther team that fought down to the last second vs the Norse, including having the game winning basket roll out at the buzzer.
The Norse, winners of 4 straight and six of their last seven struggled to score for most of the game before hitting their stride in the second half thanks mostly to Drew McDonald getting his 12th double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds while playing with 4 fouls on the night. Tyler Sharpe also took advantage of his new role by being the second leading scorer on the team with 12 points on 3/6 shooting from 3. The Norse also got big play from Dantez Walton's 12 minutes of play with 6 points off the bench in a low scoring defensive battle.
Milwaukee stayed in the game with big scoring games from Bryce Barnes (13 points), Jeremiah Bell (12 points) and Brock Stull (11 points) while only shooting 6/24 from three point range. Milwaukee came into BB&T Arena winning 4 of their last 5 and making a run at the Horizon League top seeds for the tournament in a few weeks.
NKU is now 18-7 and 11-2 in Horizon League play but saw Conference foe Wright St get a come from behind win over Green Bay 68-64 to keep atop the league standings. Norse platy next Saturday night vs Green Bay to celebrate 2018 Homecoming...... With the Ying Yang Twins.
