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Road loss for NIU in the MAC

YPSILANTI, Mich. -- An early 20-2 run helped Eastern Michigan claim an 84-68 victory over the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon at the EMU Convocation Center. Freshman Eugene German  scored a team-high 23 points to lead NIU; senior Marin Maric recorded his 24th career double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Sophomore Levi Bradley  was the third Huskie in double figures with 11 points. Eastern Michigan forced 13 NIU turnovers, while making just seven miscues, and held a 22-3 advantage in points off turnovers in the contest.

“We let Ray Lee and (Willie) Mangum catch-and-shoot early, we couldn’t keep anyone in front of us,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “Dribble penetration was going around our guards, you can’t let those guys get their confidence, we did, and you see what kind of game they had. I thought we got off to a good start, but the turnovers and not defending was a recipe for getting beat.”

Six-straight points gave the Huskies an early 10-5 lead, a turnaround jumper from Bradley and back-to-back layups from Maric and German helped the Huskies take the early five-point advantage.

Eastern Michigan (14-15, 6-10 MAC) answered with a 20-2 run to take a 25-12 lead with 10:45 to play before the intermission.

An 11-4 burst for the Huskies helped cut the Eastern Michigan lead back to just seven. Maric opened the spurt with a pair of free throws, Bradley added a free throw before four points from Maric and four points from German trimmed the Eagles lead to 38-31 with three minutes to play before halftime.

Eastern Michigan still led by seven until a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the half gave the Eagles a 44-35 lead at the half.

NIU shot 56 percent (14-of-25) from the field in the opening half, but just 2-of-8 from three-point range, while Eastern Michigan was 50 percent (14-of-28) from the field, including 40 percent (6-of-15) from three.

The Eagles sprinted out to a 12-2 to start the second half, taking a 56-37 lead just over four minutes into the second half.

NIU (15-14, 7-9 MAC) responded with an 11-3 burst to cut the Eastern Michigan lead back to 59-48 with a little over 13 minutes left. Maric, and freshman Justin Thomas each had a pair to open the run before senior Aaric Armstead (Chicago, Ill./La Jolla Prep) scored the final five to bring the Huskies within 11.

An 11-4 run by the Eagles pushed their lead out to 73-53 with just over seven minutes left and the Huskies were unable to make a run to close the deficit.

Willie Mangum IV led Eastern Michigan with 22 points; Ray Lee added 21 and James Thompson IV had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Huskies will return home on Tuesday night, Feb. 28, when they host Western Michigan in the final home game of the regular season. Game time against the Broncos is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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