YPSILANTI, Mich. -- The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team trailed by eight with less than four minutes to play but had a chance to tie the game on the final possession, falling just short, 72-69, at Eastern Michigan on Monday night in the First Round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Senior Marin Maric fell just one point shy of a career-high with 24 points and grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds, recording his sixth consecutive double-double. Sophomore Levi Bradley scored 17 points, including 15 in the second half.
“I thought our guys played with great energy and great effort,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “They stayed together. I hate that we are not moving on to Cleveland. We had opportunities, it is unfortunate that we couldn’t deliver at the free-throw line, you have to make more than we did if you are going to win on the road.”
Trailing by eight with 3:12 left, sophomore Jaylen Key made a pair of free throws to cut the gap to a half-dozen. Free throws from senior Aaric Armstead and Bradley brought the Huskies within four, 71-67, with just 42 seconds to play.
After Eastern Michigan missed a pair of free throws, Maric was fouled with 26 seconds to go and converted two from the line, cutting the Eagle lead to just a pair. Following empty possessions from both teams, Eastern Michigan split another pair with just 6.5 seconds to go, giving NIU a chance, down three.
Without a timeout, NIU raced up the floor but couldn’t get a clean look as Eastern Michigan hung on for the three-point victory.
James Thompson IV scored a team-high 21 points to lead Eastern Michigan; Ray Lee added 20 points and Ty Toney chipped in 13.
Maric sparked the Huskies in the early going, scoring NIU’s first 10 points as the Huskies took an early 10-8 lead.
Tied at a dozen, NIU used a 7-0 burst to take a 19-12 lead just before the midway point of the opening half. Maric opened the run with a basket, Key added a short jumper and sophomore Austin Pauga knocked down a trifecta from the wing to give the Huskies seven-point advantage.
A layup from freshman Eugene German gave the Huskies a 23-16 lead, but Eastern Michigan responded with the next seven to pull back even with 4:40 to play before the intermission.
German finished as the third Huskie in double figures with 10 points.
NIU (15-17) led by one heading into the final second of the opening half, but Eastern Michigan scored then stole the inbounds pass with less than five seconds to play and hit a triple to give the Eagles a 33-29 lead at the break.
Bradley scored the first four points of the second half to bring the Huskies even, 33-33. Eastern Michigan answered with six of the next seven points to take a five-point lead, 39-34, with 17:51 remaining.
A triple from German brought the Huskies within three until Eastern Michigan scored the next six, taking a 50-41 lead with just over 14 minutes left.
A putback from Armstead and a layup from German brought NIU back within three, 58-55, with eight minutes to play in the contest.
Eastern Michigan (16-16) led by eight when German connected on a deep triple to bring the Huskies back within five, 68-63, with 3:54 to go. Lee came right back with a three-point play for the Eagles, their final field goal of the game, to push the lead to 71-63 before the late NIU run that came up just short.
The NIU senior class ended their four seasons in DeKalb with 65 total victories, the second-best four-year total in school history. Marin Maric ended his Huskie career with 27 double-doubles, falling just 11 points shy of 1,000 for his career. Aaric Armstead closed his Huskie career with over 1,000 career points, 600 career rebounds and 150 career assists, he is one of just five active players in Division I to reach those three milestones.
