Staff photo / Greg Macafee Youngstown State guard Brandon Rush goes up for a contested layup against Northern Kentucky's Trevon Walker. Rush scored eight points in YSU's 75-63 loss in their Horizon League semifinal contest at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS — The journey to the NCAA Tournament prematurely ended on its penultimate step.

Youngstown State came up short of a tournament berth, as the Penguins fell to Northern Kentucky, 75-63, in the Horizon League Tournament semifinals Monday night at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

With the loss, YSU (24-9) will head to the NIT.

“Historically, we haven’t been in (these) positions,” YSU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “We’ve won a (regular season) league title. These guys, I said ‘You have nothing to be ashamed of. You’ve accomplished a lot and won a regular season title.’ So it’s a lot to keep your head high.”

At the outset, the game played into Northern Kentucky’s style. The Norse (21-12) defended YSU well from the jump and bludgeoned the Penguins on the glass.

Youngstown State’s typically potent offense was kept to just 25 points in the first half, as NKU used its matchup zone to build a 15-point lead by the intermission, 40-25. In the first stanza, YSU shot 9-for-23 overall but just 2-for-8 from 3-point range. Then, too, NKU went 12-for-16 at the free-throw line before halftime, while YSU was just 5-of-6.

YSU also had seven turnovers, which led to 11 points at the other end.

“I think in the first half, they were very active (defensively),” YSU guard Dwayne Cohill said. “They were active with their length and in the passing lanes and just swarmed to the ball. I don’t think we made enough plays in the first half, and we took some tough shots early in the clock and then later a lot, too. We didn’t really get enough movement to where we could get a shot. They did a great job in the first half.”

Calhoun added, “You have to give NKU credit. I thought they came out and played a great game defensively. The last couple years, they’ve been one of the best defensive teams in the league, and it showed again today. It was a very tough game to get any sort of rhythm. … We’re a team with spurt-ability, but we didn’t get that going tonight. You have to give NKU a lot of credit.”

Chris Brandon led the effort on the boards for the Norse. At the break, he had just four points, but had snagged nine rebounds, including six on the offensive end. By the final buzzer, he had eight points and a game-high 17 rebounds.

As a team, the Norse grabbed 10 offensive boards and parlayed them into eight second-chance points.

Meanwhile, NKU guards Marques Warrick and Xavier Rhodes popped for 16 and 10 points, respectively, before the break, as the YSU defense struggled to contain the Norse stars.

The beginning of the second half went much the same as the first half, as the Norse grew their advantage to as large as 22 points, a 47-25 lead with 17:35 to go following a Sam Vinson 3-pointer.

From there, the Penguins rallied multiple times, posting quick scoring spurts to clip the deficit to as small as four — 57-53 with 4:44 to go — but couldn’t get over the hump. As a team, NKU shot 9-for-28 out of the half.

“I think in the second half, we kind of settled in and finally understood we had to move through the zone — get some passes, get some cuts and get some more shots,” Cohill said.

The senior was pivotal in that surge, scoring 10 of his 16 points after the intermission including his own 8-0 run at one point. As YSU was surging again, however, Cohill picked up two fouls just eight seconds apart, fouling him out of the game with 5:40 to go.

“I think if he doesn’t foul out, it could have been a different outcome,” Calhoun said. “That was a big momentum change when he got the fifth foul.”

And, YSU was without Malek Green for all but three minutes of the second half. The forward injured his ankle in the first half and tried to continue playing, but ultimately the injury proved to be too much.

After YSU cut the deficit to four, NKU ballooned it back out to double-digits multiple times down the stretch as the Norse connected on their free throws. NKU finished 28-of-38 at the line to YSU’s 11-for-13 mark.

Warrick led all scorers with 22 points, while Vinson added 16 points and Xavier Rhodes had 12 for NKU. YSU was paced by 17 points and 13 rebounds from Adrian Nelson, while Cohill had 16 and Green had 10 points and five boards in his limited action.

Though the Penguins fell short of the NCAA Tournament, the season will continue, as they earned the Horizon League’s auto-bid to the NIT with the regular season title.

“It’s tough losing. It’s tough that our season ended like this, because we had bigger hopes,” Cohill said. “But we’ve still got the NIT, and we’re going to do something. We’re going to do something.”

jwhetzel@tribtoday.com