HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Senior
Marcus Burk scored a season-high 27 points, including hitting 6-of-7 three-point attempts, as IUPUI rolled to its first-ever road win at Northern Kentucky on Friday night (Jan. 15), 74-69.
Jaylen Minnett added 18 points and
Bobby Harvey contributed 10 off the bench in the win.
Northern Kentucky freshman Marques Warrick led the Norse with 20 points and Trevon Faulkner added 19 points and nine rebounds in the loss. Both Adrian Nelson and David Bohm contributed 11 points for NKU (5-7, 3-4 HL), which shot 51 percent from the floor but had no answer for the Jaguars' attack in the second half.
"It was really important (to bring the energy). Being able to come in and get this win is huge for us to get us our momentum going forward," Burk said. "I've been getting up extra shots this whole week in practice. I've just really been trying to focus in on what I've been doing wrong, watching film, and going back to what was working for me. Trying to implement that in today's game really helped me out."
Burk came in shooting just 24 percent from three-point range in the season's first five games, but more resembled one of the nation's top marksmen on Friday.
His second three of the opening half staked IUPUI to a 20-18 lead and the Jags later extended to a four-point lead when
Azariah Seay got loose for an easy layup off an
Elyjah Goss assist. NKU ultimately retook a 30-28 lead at halftime.
The game was a back-and-forth affair throughout the second half as the two teams combined on 15 ties and 11 lead changes. NKU took a 64-61 lead with 3:56 remaining when Warrick stroked a trey, but
Mike DePersia fired back with a traditional three-point play over Bohm heading into the game's final media timeout.
NKU answered again with a Faulkner three-point play, but IUPUI (2-4, 1-4 HL) was poised to snap a four-game skid and made plays down the stretch. Minnett cut into the NKU three-point lead with an improbable bank shot from the left wing over a much taller defender to pull IUPUI within one with 2:33 left. After forcing an NKU miss, Harvey put the Jags in front for good when he swished a wing three off a DePersia assist with 1:42 remaining.
IUPUI forced Faulkner into a turnover and the Jags capitalized on their next trip to make it a two-possession game. Burk clanged his lone missed trey of the game, but Goss tracked down the offensive rebound to reset the shot clock. Given new life, Minnett scored on a drive with 69 seconds left.
From there, IUPUI benefited from some missed NKU free throws to stave off the hosts as Minnett and DePersia combined to make 3-of-4 freebies in the final 20 seconds to ice the game.
"This is the first time since the season started that we've gotten to practice for three weeks in a row," head coach
Byron Rimm II said. "We got going and then had to go into quarantine and really had to start back at ground zero. This is really the first week where we haven't had any (COVID) issues at practice all week and could really just lock in and work.
"Our expectation is to win a lot of these games and I think we're really just starting to find our niche."
Goss finished with five points and seven boards and DePersia had six points, five boards and a team-high three assists. Sophomore
Nathan McClure took full advantage of his first career start, contributing six points, five rebounds (all offensive) and three steals in 24 minutes of work.
McClure epitomized the Jaguars' energy with a two-possession stretch that saw him collect a steal near midcourt and race the other way for a go-ahead layup early in the second half. Moments later, he climbed the ladder to rebound a Goss miss and was fouled on the putback attempt, leading to two made free throws.
"We had a long talk this week at practice about our energy," Rimm said. "I told the guys, in order to be successful in anything in life, you have to be enthusiastic about it. I thought our energy was pretty good up at Milwaukee, but tonight, especially our guys on the bench, took it to another level.
"It becomes contagious."
It was most evident in the game's fast break points as IUPUI leaked out for 14 transition points, while not allowing any fast break points. That helped offset a night in which NKU shot 51 percent from the floor and outrebounded IUPUI 34-29. However, IUPUI was 9-of-18 from three-point range, fueled by Burk (6-of-7) and Harvey (2-of-3).
IUPUI entered Friday's matchup 2-9 all-time against NKU and winless in the six previous trips to Highland Heights, dating back to 1981.
The same two teams will square off again on Saturday (Jan. 16) at 6:00 p.m. inside NKU's BB&T Arena. That game will also be seen on ESPN3.
