DEKALB, Ill. – Four Huskies scored in double figures, led by 18 points from Quentin Jones, but the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team fell to Bowling Green, 71-58, on Tuesday night in the NIU Convocation Center in the final home game of the season for the Huskies.
James Dent Jr. added 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Tsvet Sotirov had 11 points and Joe Munden Jr. chipped in 10 points.
“You saw a tired group in the second half,” said NIU head coach Rahson Burno. “We played as hard as we possibly could for as long as we possibly could with the six scholarship guys (dressed). We got outrebounded, and more importantly the lack of depth hurt us on the offensive end. Our shots were extremely short, but those guys battled and gave us a chance to be in the game, we just couldn’t get over the hump.”
NIU (5-25, 1-16 MAC) opened the game 4-of-6 from three-point range as the Huskies led 12-11 five minutes into the contest. Kailon Nicholls had two of the opening four triples for the Huskies.
Bowling Green answered with the next eight points as the Falcons went in front by seven, but NIU responded with back-to-back triples from Jones and Dent as the Huskies cut the Falcon lead to 19-18 with 11:46 to play in the half.
After a timeout, Sotirov extended the Huskie run to 9-0 with a three as NIU went in front, 21-19.
NIU led by a pair, 24-22, until a 9-0 Bowling Green run gave the Falcons a 31-24 advantage with 4:13 remaining in the opening stanza.
Following a triple by Jones, Bowling Green scored the next five as the Falcons extended their lead to 36-27. NIU scored the final four points of the half to trim the Bowling Green advantage to 36-31 at the intermission.
Derrick Butler and Marcus Johnson each had 14 points to pace the Falcons in the opening 20 minutes, Jones led NIU with eight points. Bowling Green shot 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the field in the first half while NIU went 9-of-23 from three-point range (39.1 percent).
Bowling Green (14-16, 8-9 MAC) pushed its lead to eight with a triple to begin the second half, but the Huskies answered with the next eight to pull even at 39 four minutes into the second stanza. Dent opened the run with a three, Munden added the next three points and Jones finished off glass to tie the contest.
The Falcons scored the next six, four of which came from the free-throw line, as Bowling Green moved in front, 45-39, with 13:41 left.
After NIU cut the lead back to a pair, 49-47, courtesy of a triple from Sotirov, four free throws by Jones and a free throw from Munden, Bowling Green scored seven-straight to lead 56-47 with just under nine minutes to play.
A pair of free throws from Munden brought NIU within seven, but after both teams went scoreless for more than two minutes, Bowling Green scored the next four to lead 60-49, forcing a NIU timeout with 3:16 to go.
In the final three minutes, Bowling Green went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line to end any hopes of a Huskie comeback. Bowling Green held NIU to just 22.2 percent (6-of-27) shooting in the second half, including just 12.5 percent (2-of-16) from three-point range.
Javontae Campbell scored 19 points to lead Bowling Green, Johnson added 17, Butler scored 14 and DaJion Humphrey chipped in 11 points.
NIU will close the 2024-25 season on Friday, March 7, as the Huskies travel to Central Michigan.
March 4, 2025
