DEKALB, Ill. -- Ball State scored the first 11 points to begin overtime as they defeated the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team, 81-72, on Tuesday night at the NIU Convocation Center. The Cardinals made 14 triples in the contest, including going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the extra session.
Freshman Eugene German recorded his second-straight 20-point game to pace the Huskies; sophomore Levi Bradley added 13 points.
“I thought we put ourselves in position to win the game, even though Marin Maric was in foul trouble pretty much the whole game,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “Unfortunately, we did not close out the game with under four minutes to go … (Ball State) had a lot of momentum going into overtime, I thought we made a valiant effort to get back in the game (in overtime), but they made a big three in the corner.
“(Ball State) caught fire at the right time, credit Ball State, but we didn’t close the game out like we should.
Maric finished with nine points and five rebounds in just 21 minutes of action, fouling out on the second possession of overtime.
Trailing by five with just under 90 seconds to play, Ball State (16-10, 7-6 MAC) got a layup to cut the NIU lead to 61-68. A defensive stop for the Cardinals led to a triple from Ryan Weber with 12 seconds remaining to bring the Cardinals even.
Following a timeout, NIU drove to the basket with German but the Huskie freshman was unable to convert at the game went to overtime.
After winning the tip in the extra session, the Cardinals quickly raced to an 11-0 run to force a Huskie timeout. NIU rallied with the next seven points, one from senior Aaric Armstead, two from Bradley and four from German, to cut the Ball State lead to 72-68 with a little over a minute to play, but Weber knocked down a corner triple on the next possession to put the game away.
Armstead finished with nine points and five rebounds.
Weber scored a game-high 23 points, including 7-of-11 shooting from three-point range, Jeremie Tyler added 18 and Trey Moses had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinals.
NIU (14-12, 6-7 MAC) jumped out to a quick start in the contest, scoring the first seven point to take an early lead.
Ball State cut the Huskie advantage back to just three, 25-22, with just over five minutes to play in the opening half, but NIU answered with the next six on a pair of free throws from Bradley and a pair of baskets from German as the Huskie lead grew to nine with 2:44 left before the intermission.
A pair of triples from sophomore Jaylen Key helped NIU take an 11-point lead with just over 10 seconds to play before halftime, but the Cardinals knocked down a triple just before time expired to trim the Huskie lead to 39-31 at the break.
Trailing by nine, three minutes into the second stanza, Ball State used a quick 5-0 burst to pull back within four, 46-42. The lead continued to hover around four until a pair of free throws and a layup by German pushed the lead to 59-51 with just over eight minutes left.
The Cardinals and Huskies traded a pair of points before Weber knocked in a triple to close the gap to five, 61-56, with 3:39 remaining in regulation.
Both teams were then held scoreless until the final 90 seconds when Ball State made its late push to force overtime.
NIU will be home again on Saturday, Feb. 18, when the Huskies host Toledo. Game time against the Rockets is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., and is the second game of a doubleheader with the Huskie women’s basketball team tipping off at 1 p.m.
