DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team rallied from down 15 in the first half to take a lead in the second before falling to Western Michigan, 74-70, on Saturday afternoon at the NIU Convocation Center. Quentin Jones scored a game-high 25 points with eight rebounds and six assists.
“I thought we competed,” said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. “The lack of size and our inability to finish key plays (hurt us). When you look at the second chance points it was 10-0 (in the first half). They had possessions that they extended when they needed to. Our first shot defense was good, but when you don’t have a frontline that is really tough, especially with a team that is 6-8, 6-9, 6-10 and physical. We shot ourselves in the foot, we were 4-of-11 from the free-throw line, which is uncharacteristic.”
Tsvet Sotirov added 10 points and a career-high eight rebounds while James Dent Jr. had nine points and six assists.
Western Michigan (11-18, 8-8 MAC) jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the opening four-and-a-half minutes of the contest, forcing an early Huskie timeout. The Broncos made another triple, their third of the contest, out of the timeout as the visitors lead grew to 17-4.
The fifth triple of the game for Western Michigan gave the Broncos a 25-10 lead but the Huskies scored six of the next eight to trim the WMU lead to 27-16 with 8:34 to play before the intermission. Jones made a pair of buckets during the burst and Dent had the other NIU basket.
A corner three from Steven Tipton jumpstarted an 8-0 NIU run as the Huskies cut the Western Michigan lead to just seven. Jones added a triple and Nasir Muhammad finished at the rim to cut the Bronco advantage to 31-24 with 5:47 to play in the half.
After the Western Michigan lead ballooned back to 14, NIU used a 10-3 spurt to climb back within seven. Kailon Nicholls scored to open the run, Jones and Sotirov added threes before Jones scored to end the run, trimming the Bronco lead to 41-34 with 1:25 to play in the half.
Western Michigan scored to end the half as the Broncos took a 43-34 lead into halftime. Jones led all scorers with 12 points, Chansey Willis Jr. had 10 to pace the Broncos. Western Michigan shot 54.5 percent (18-of-33) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from three-point range.
Trailing by seven, Jones knocked in a triple and Jayden Mott finished at the rim to pull the Huskies within a pair, 46-44, with 16:16 remaining.
With Western Michigan in front by a half-dozen, Joe Munden Jr. knocked in a three, followed by a triple from Jones to pull NIU even at 53 with 13 minutes left. A Sotirov free throw gave NIU its first lead, 54-53, with a little over 12 minutes to go.
NIU (5-24, 1-15 MAC) still led by one when Western Michigan used a 10-0 run to go back in front, 65-56, with 8:25 remaining.
Five-straight points from Jones trimmed the Bronco lead to 65-61, but Western Michigan scored the next five as the lead went back to 10, 71-61. Once again, NIU answered with five as Sotirov made a triple and Munden scored a bucket as the Huskies cut the lead to 71-66 with 2:52 left.
An old-fashioned three-point play from Dent brought NIU within a pair, 71-69, with 98 seconds left, but both teams went scoreless for the next minute-plus before the Broncos closed the game out at the free-throw line.
Willis led four players in double figures for Western Michigan with 17 points. Markhi Strickland added 14, Owen Lobsinger scored 12 and Donovan Williams had 10 points. The Broncos outrebounded the Huskies, 41-30, and led in second chance points 19-4.
NIU will host Bowling Green on Tuesday, March 4, at 6 p.m. in the home finale.
