Northern Kentucky holds off Youngstown State 95-85

Feb 2, 2019, 11:18 am

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Drew McDonald scored 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Northern Kentucky parlayed a big second half into a 95-85 defeat of upset-minded Youngstown State Thursday night.

The Norse (16-7, 9-2) remain knotted with Wright State (17-7, 9-2) which also won Thursday, for first place in the Horizon League.

McDonald shot 9 of 11 from the field, mirroring the NKU team, which shot 64 percent in the come-from-behind second half (18 of 28) and finished at 60 percent for the game. Carson Williams added 19 points on 9 of 12 shooting, Tyler Sharpe scored 15, Mason Faulkner 12 and Lavone Holland II 11.

Youngstown State (6-18, 3-7) grabbed the early lead, pushed it to eight points three times before leading 43-40 at halftime.

The teams swapped the lead in a tight game all the way through the second half until NKU launched an 11-1 run to go up 74-62 with 10:17 remaining. The Penguins came as close as five, 86-81.

Braun Hartfield led Youngstown State with 23 points, 20 after halftime, Tyree Robinson added a career-high 19, Cameron Morse 15 and Devin Haygood 11.