Chippewas Fall to Northern Kentucky 90-66

Thursday, November 20

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

7:00 PM

Central Michigan University

2-3,0-0MAC

Northern Kentucky

3-2,0-0Horizon

Northern Ky.

Central Mich.

Chippewas Host Northern Kentucky on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, November 19

Chippewas Down Coppin State 82-59 Behind Nathan Claerbaut's Second Straight Double-Double

Friday, November 14

Men's Basketball Plays Coppin State in Final Showdown at St. Pete on Friday

Thursday, November 13

Chippewas Edged by South Alabama in Close Contest, 66-64

Thursday, November 13

Next Event

Marquette

Nov 22 (Sat)

2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM CT

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NKU

CMU

FG%

.531

.472

3FG%

.481

.294

FT%

.692

.611

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Nick Mullen

/ Men's Basketball

Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography

Photo by: Kailey Hill '26 - @rahsignz

Photo by: Lauren Verellen

11/20/2025 10:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Full Game Book Photo Gallery

Four Chippewas reach double figure scoring including Nick Mullen (12 points), Logan McIntire (11 points), Phat Phat Brooks (10), and Nathan Claerbaut (10).

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Donovan Oday scored a game-high 20 points and Kael Robinson added 17 as Northern Kentucky converted 13 3-point field goals and used 53 percent shooting to defeat Central Michigan 90-66 in men's basketball Thursday evening at McGuirk Arena.

The loss drops Central Michigan to 2-3 on the young season, while Northern Kentucky improves to 3-2. Next up, Central Michigan will travel to Milwaukee, Wis. to take on Marquette (3-3) on Saturday. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT for a nationally televised game on truTV.

Using a swarming 1-3-1 defense, Northern Kentucky scored 26 points off 19 Central Michigan turnovers and forced a CMU opponent season-high 14 steals. On offense, NKU hit 34 of 64 shots, a CMU opponent season-high 53 percent, hit 13-27 3-pointers, and assisted on 26 field goals. The Norse scored 25 points on fast breaks to CMU's zero. Oday converted 7-13 field goals and 3-6 3-pointers, Robinson hit 4-5 3-pointers, Dan Gherezgher scored 13 points with three 3-pointers, and LJ Wells added 13 points, nine rebounds, and five assists for the Norse.

"In preparing for Northern Kentucky, they run the matchup zone, play the passing lanes, and they convert off turnovers," Central Michigan head coach Andy Bronkema said. "They create turnovers and create chaos and they get out in transition. Those were two keys to the game for us: limit their transition and take of the basketball and complete passes until their zone got distorted enough to get good shots. We weren't able to do that. They played their game and they played really well.

"There were some bright spots in there, but certainly not enough. On a night like tonight, it was hard to get momentum. There were a couple of stretches where we got momentum, the crowd started to take off, but we couldn't sustain it. All across the nation, that's part of the process of becoming the best you can be is taking some lumps. We're going to try to avoid them, but we're going to stick together and do what we do."

Central Michigan was led by a season-high 12 points from Nick Mullen. Mullen also hit 6-6 field goals and grabbed four rebounds. Logan McIntire finished with 11 points and three 3-pointers, Phat Phat Brooks registered his second straight double figure scoring game with 10 points, and Nathan Claerbaut reached double figure scoring for the fourth straight time with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Northern Kentucky jumped out to an early 7-2 lead through the game's first three minutes, then used a 7-0 run to go up 23-11. Robinson hit a 3-pointer, then followed with a layup, and Donovan Oday scored on a layup for the 12-point lead with 10:03 to go in the first half. But the Chippewas answered with back-to-back baskets by McIntire (3-pointer) and Mullen (jumper).

The Norse then went on an 8-0 run to go up 16 points, 36-20, on two free throws from Wells. Oday started the rally with a layup, Tae Dozier scored on a dunk, Oday converted two free throws, then Wells hit his two shots. An Oday 3-pointer gave the Norse their largest lead of the game, 39-22, with 2:56 to go in the half.

But Central Michigan's McIntire hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 40-30 with 1:00 to play in the first half. The shots gave Central Michigan momentum as the crowd was energized, but the Norse answered on a Wells dunk and Oday jumper for a 14-point halftime lead.

The Chippewas made a run early in the second half as they opened the period with a 6-0 run using a Mullen jumper, two Tamario Adley free throws and Mullen dunk to cut NKU's lead to eight points (44-36) with 17:53 to play. But Northern Kentucky quickly answered with a 3-pointer by Oday to maintain its lead.

Midway through the half, Northern Kentucky pushed used a 5-0 run to go up by 20 points (74-54) with 8:13 to play.

"I thought we came out of halftime real well and made a run," Bronkema said. "We turned the ball over tonight, guys can make better plays and they will. That's what hurt us today. A lot of their fast break points, they're sending everybody back. A lot of those points were points off turnovers."

"Our guys are working hard, I'm confident that it's going to translate and I'm confident that they're going to get better and better. That's all I'm asking for. It's how you bounce back, how you react, the maturity you show and the attitude of 'what can you learn from this?' If we do that over and over, we'll become a pretty good team and that's what we're looking to do."

For the second straight game, Central Michigan started Nick Mullen at forward, Nathan Claerbaut at center, and Phat Phat Brooks, Logan McIntire, and Tamario Adley at guard.

—CMU—