DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team led wire-to-wire over first-place Central Michigan, defeating the Chippewas 73-55 on Saturday night at the NIU Convocation Center. Sophomore Aaric Armstead scored a team-high 15 points while senior Anthony Johnson added 12 points and six assists and senior Aaron Armstead chipped in 11 points.
“I thought our guys came out with great energy and great effort,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “We were unbelievably focused and ready to play. You could tell that they had a chip on their shoulder from the two-point loss at Central Michigan a week-and-a-half ago. I thought our defensive effort was outstanding and we are shooting the basketball the best we have all year. We are being very unselfish, very efficient and making free throws too, which is nice.”
The Huskies shot 56.8 percent (25-of-44) in the contest, including 68.2 percent (15-of-22) in the second half, while holding Central Michigan to 31.5 percent (17-of-54) shooting.
NIU (12-15, 6-10 MAC) scored the first six points of the contest, five coming from Aaric Armstead as the Huskies built an early lead.
Central Michigan cut the deficit to just one, 8-7, with 15:20 to play in the opening game but an old-fashioned three-point play from Johnson and a bucket by Aaron Armstead pushed the NIU lead back to six, 13-7.
The Chippewas were within four, 19-15, when NIU used a 9-0 run to push its lead to double figures, 26-15, with 5:38 to play in the opening half. Johnson started the burst with a pair of free throws, senior Pete Rakocevic (Chicago, Ill./Wilbraham & Monson/Sacramento State) added a bucket before Aaron Armstead connected on a triple and Aaric Armstead capped the run with a basket.
NIU outscored the Chippewas 38-16 in the paint, including Rakocevic’s 3-of-3 from the field, scoring six points in eight minutes of play.
Central Michigan (21-6, 11-5 MAC) made just one field goal in the final nine minutes of the opening half, a triple from Blake Hibbitts with 1:50 left before the break, as NIU took a 33-20 lead into the intermission.
NIU shot 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from the field in the opening half and held Central Michigan, who entered the contest as the 10th-highest scoring team in the nation, to just 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from the field.
After the break, the Chippewas started the second 20 minutes with a 7-3 spurt to pull back within nine, 36-27. NIU answered with the next five on an old-fashioned three-point play from MARIC and a basket by Johnson as the Huskies pushed the lead to 41-27 with 15:33 to play.
Leading by 14, 46-32, Rakocevic provided the highlight of the night as he took an entry pass from Johnson and flushed a two-handed jam that brought down the basket.
Following a brief delay to reset the hoop, Aaron Armstead pushed the Huskie burst to 6-0 as NIU led by 18, 50-32, with 12 minutes to play.
NIU continued to cruise home to the victory, leading by as much as 23 in the final minutes that included an array of spectacular dunks, including a spectacular alley-oop from junior Travon Baker to junior Chuks Iroegbu.
Baker finished with five assists as NIU recorded 17 assists on its 25 made field goals.
Braylon Rayson led Central Michigan with 12 points, Rayshawn Simmons added 11 for the Chippewas.
NIU will return to action on Tuesday night, March 3, when the Huskies host Western Michigan in their final home game of the regular season. Game time against the Broncos is set for 7 p.m.
Champaign, IL - Rayvonte Rice scored 19 points
and grabbed seven rebounds as the Illinois Fighting Illini
dominated the Northwestern Wildcats, 86-60, in Big Ten Conference
play at the State Farm Center.
Ahmad Starks and Malcolm Hill aided the scoring effort for Illinois
(18-11 8-8 Big Ten) with 17 points and 15 points, respectively.
Kendrick Nunn added 14 points and Maverick Morgan finished with 10
points and eight boards in the win.
Alex Olah led Northwestern (14-15, 5-11) with 18 points and five
rebounds, while Bryant McIntosh scored 13 points in the loss. Dave
Sobolewski added 11 points for the Wildcats.
The Fighting Illini shot 48.3 percent from the field in the first
half, including an impressive 9-of-16 from 3-point distance, and
entered halftime with a 45-23 lead over Northwestern. Illinois
limited the Wildcats to a 33.3 shooting percentage in the opening
period, which included 2-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Illinois maintained its lead in the second half with a 46.4
shooting percentage that included five 3-point field goals.
Northwestern did connect on 50 percent of its field goal tries in
the final period, but that included only 3-of-12 from beyond the
arc.
The Fighting Illini outscored Northwestern 42-15 on 3-point field
goals and finished with more rebounds (40-21), second chance points
(18-5) and points off turnovers (17-6) than the Wildcats.
