MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – James Dent Jr poured in a career-high 36 points, including the game-winner with 1.5 seconds left, to lead the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team to an 83-81 double overtime victory over Central Michigan on Friday night (March 7) at McGuirk Arena.
The win snapped an 11-game losing streak for the Huskies.
The Huskies, who started the game with just six available scholarship players, played the end of regulation and overtime with just two scholarship players as walk-ons combined to play 81 minutes in the victory.
Joe Munden Jr. had 13 points and Kailon Nicholls chipped in 10 in the victory.
“It’s a testament to our guys,” said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. “I said it pregame, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but in this locker room with these guys because these guys had the right mindset. We’ve been on the losing end of a lot of close games so I told them, ‘just keep it close, something is going to break for us.’
“Everybody played the right way and a lot of stuff had to go right for us, but we defended, limited (Central Michigan) at the three-point line and made plays when it mattered.”
With 1:12 to play in regulation time, Munden picked up his fifth foul, becoming the third Huskie to foul out, and Central Michigan made a pair of free throws to take a 66-62 lead. Dent then made a pair of free throws to bring NIU back within two before the Chippewas split a pair to move go in front 67-64.
After Dent drove in for a dunk with 31 seconds left, CMU split two more free throws before Dent banked in a layup with 11 seconds to play to tie the game at 68 and send it to overtime.
Dent finished with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals to go along with his career-high 36 points.
Central Michigan scored first in the first overtime, but David Mack tied it and Dent gave the Huskies a 72-70 lead with two free throws midway through the extra period. After the Chippewas tied it at 72, Nicholls made a tough layup to give NIU the lead again with 1:47 left in the period. The hosts scored to tie it at 74 and NIU nearly won it with a putback at the buzzer, but the second chance shot wouldn’t go as we went to a second overtime.
NIU (6-25, 2-16 MAC) scored first in the second overtime as Mo Sall scored off an offensive rebound.
Sall, who had played three minutes this season prior to tonight, finished with four points and seven rebounds, five of which were offensive, in 22 minutes of action off the bench.
CMU scored the next three to take a one-point lead before Mack banked in a triple with 2:16 to play, giving the Huskies a 79-77 advantage. After a defensive stop, Mack drove for a layup as NIU took an 81-77 lead with 90 seconds left.
Mack finished the contest with seven points, on 3-of-5 shooting and 1-of-1 from three, playing 11 minutes. He came into the night with five points in 15 total minutes of action for the year.
The Chippewas scored a pair of baskets, sandwiched around a defensive stop, as the hosts tied the contest at 81 with 17 seconds to go.
Out of a timeout, Dent brought the ball into the front court and picked up his dribble near the elbow before throwing a line drive at the rim that went in, giving the Huskies a two-point lead with 1.5 seconds to play.
Following a review of the clock, Central Michigan threw the ball three-quarters of the length of the floor where the Huskies knocked it out of bounds as time expired, giving the visitors an improbable victory.
Jakobi Heady had 20 points to lead the Chippewas. Ugnius Jarusevicius and Kyler VanerJagt each scored 17, Cayden Vasko added 13 points and Anthony Pritchard chipped in 10 points for Central Michigan.
NIU raced out to a 13-4 lead in the opening four minutes of the contest but lost Quentin Jones, the leading scorer in the Mid-American Conference, to an injury less than two minutes in. Dent made a pair of triples and Nicholls knocked down a corner three to help the Huskies take the early nine-point advantage.
The lead was five before Nicholls knocked in his second triple of the night and Munden scored to push the Huskie advantage to 20-10 with 12:01 to play before the intermission.
Central Michigan (14-17, 7-11 MAC) answered with the next four to cut the lead back to a half-dozen, but buckets from Steven Tipton and Sall pushed the NIU lead back to 10 with 8:03 to go in the half.
The Chippewas were back within five until a floater from Tipton with 3:47 to play in the half gave NIU a 27-20 lead.
A triple from Tipton put the Huskies up eight, but Central Michigan scored the final three points of the half to trim the NIU lead to 30-25 at the break. Tipton had nine points to lead all scorers in the opening 20 minutes. NIU held Central Michigan to just 28 percent (7-of-25) from the field in the opening half.
Central Michigan scored the first six to start the second half to move in front, 31-30. Dent answered with a triple for NIU as the Huskies led by a pair, 33-31, with 18:09 left to play.
After another trifecta from Dent put the Huskies up 39-36, Central Michigan scored the next five to go back up 41-39 with 14:10 left. Dent then made a pair of free throws and a triple as NIU took a 44-41 lead with 11:45 remaining.
Tied at 44, the Huskies went on a 9-2 run to take a seven-point lead. Dent opened the burst with a triple, NIcholls scored and then, following a Central Michigan basket, Dent made a pair of free throws and Munden made a layup off a feed from Jayden Mott as the Huskies led 53-46 with 8:25 to go.
Central Michigan answered with a 7-2 spurt to close back within two, 55-53. A pair of Dent free throws made it a four-point Huskie lead before the Chippewas scored eight of the next 11 to go back in front, 61-60, with 3:30 remaining.
With the win, NIU eliminated Central Michigan from contention for the MAC Tournament, the Chippewas would have been in with a victory.
Illinois won their final game prior to the Big 10 Conference Tournament Friday night with an 88-80 win over #18 Purdue in Champaign.
Illinois out scored the Boilermakers 48-38 in the second half for the win.
Will Riley had 22 points for the Illini while Tre White had 20 points and 9 rebounds.
Illinois goes into the Big 10 Tournament with a (20-11) record.
Trey Kaufman-Renn had 29 points and 7 rebounds for Purdue who falls to (21-10) for the season.
March 7, 2025
