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NIU loses final regular season game at Ball State

The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team made a late rally but was unable to complete the comeback as the Huskies fell to MAC West Division co-champion Ball State, 87-82, on Friday night at Worthen Arena. Freshman Eugene German  scored a team-high 17 points while senior Marin Maric  posted his fifth consecutive double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

With the results of tonight’s games, NIU will now travel to Ypsilanti, Mich., to meet Eastern Michigan on Monday night, March 6, in the MAC Tournament First Round.

Sophomore Jaylen Key  added 12 points, sophomore Austin Pauga  chipped in 11 points and sophomore Levi Bradley was the fifth Huskie in double figures with 10 points.

“I thought our guys came out and played hard,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “I liked the fight, we had five guys in double figures and Dontel (Highsmith) had nine (points). We were coming off a tough loss and our guys came out with a lot of fight.”

Tied at 11 in the early going, Pauga knocked down a triple from the wing and Key converted a layup as the Huskies took a five-point lead with 13:47 to play before the intermission.

Ball State (20-11, 11-7 MAC) responded with an 11-0 run as the Cardinals took a 22-16 lead with 8:37 remaining before halftime before Maric ended the Ball State run with a pair of free throws

Five points from freshman Justin Thomas , including an old-fashioned three-point play, and a layup from Maric helped bring the Huskies within four, 30-26. Ball State had extended its lead back to seven until Maric converted an old-fashioned three-point play of his own to cut the Cardinal lead to 36-32 at the intermission.

Ball State scored the first six points to open the second half, taking a 42-32 lead. The Cardinal lead grew to a dozen until layups from Maric and German cut the Ball State lead to 51-43 with just over 13 minutes to play.

The Cardinals pushed the lead to 13 before Key scored eight-straight to trim the Ball State lead back to 56-51. Key opened his personal run with a three-point play, added a basket and then knocked down a triple to bring the Huskies within five just before the midway point of the second half. Key fouled out of the contest with 6:26 remaining.

NIU (15-16, 7-11 MAC) was still within five with just over six minutes to play until an 8-1 Ball State run gave the Cardinals a 69-57 lead with 4:20 left.

Ball State’s lead was 11 until a triple from Pauga with 29 seconds remaining trimmed the Cardinal lead to 83-75. After Ball State missed a pair of free throws, Highsmith was fouled shooting a three, making all three from the charity stripe to bring NIU within five.

A Ball State turnover led to a layup by Bradley with 13 ticks remaining as NIU cut the lead to 83-80. The Cardinals then made a pair of free throws and NIU came up empty on its next possession as the late Huskie rally fell short

Franko House scored a game-high 22 points to lead Ball State; Tayler Persons added 14 points while Trey Moses and Ryan Weber each scored 12 for the Cardinals.

 

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