ESTERO, Fla. -- The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team found itself in a 25-6 hole early and was never able to recover as the Huskies fell to the University of Pennsylvania, 93-80, on Monday evening in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena.
Sophomore Eugene German scored a team-high 17 points, juniors Dante Thorpe and Levi Bradley each added 14 while junior Anastasios Demogerontas chipped in 13 points.
Penn (3-2) shot 56.5 percent (35-of-62) from the field in the contest, including 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from behind the three-point line. The Quakers also outrebounded the Huskies, 40-32.
“It was unfortunate that we got off to a very, very slow start,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “We just didn’t have any patience offensively, (Penn) got the ball in the paint, we got the ball at 12 to 15-feet, you can’t do that. We didn’t defend and we didn’t rebound (in the first half), it was very disappointing.”
Penn jumped out to a 17-3 lead early in the contest as the Quakers made eight of their first 11 shots. Freshman Gairges Daow slowed the Quaker momentum with a triple from the corner but Penn answered with the next eight as the Quakers took a 25-6 lead with 13:41 to play in the half.
NIU (2-1) scored six of the next eight, capped by an old-fashioned three-point play from Bradley with 12 minutes to play in the half, trimming the Penn lead to 27-12.
The Quakers lead grew to as much as 22 with three minutes to play before the intermission but the Huskies finished the half with an 8-3 burst as Penn took a 49-32 lead into the half.
A.J. Brodeur led all scorers with 16 points in the opening half, Caleb Wood added 13 for the Quakers who shot 54.5 percent (18-of-33) in the half. German led NIU with eight points, Bradley added seven.
NIU and Penn traded the first 14 point of the second half, but a six-point burst from the Huskies, the last four of which came from Thorpe, trimmed the Penn lead to 58-45 and forced a Quaker timeout with 15:42 to play.
A bucket by junior Lacey James and an old-fashioned three-point play from German brought the Huskies within 11, 70-59, but Penn answered right back with a triple from Antonio Woods as the Quaker lead grew back to 14 with 8:31 left.
Brodeur led all scorers with 25 points for Penn, Max Rothschild added 22 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Caleb Wood chipped in 16 points and Antonio Woods had 14, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.
NIU will return to action on Tuesday in the consolation round of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
CHICAGO – The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team used a fourth-quarter surge to pull away from Chicago State and post an 80-59 victory over the Cougars at Jones Convocation Center Monday night.
“We always expect Chicago State to play hard. That’s always something that has been very consistent about them,” said NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen. “I thought we did a good job coming out of the locker room ready to play. We were able to turn them over a bit early with some pressing and trapping. I thought that was important for us to get off to a good start.”
Senior Kelly Smith led the charge with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Smith was one of three Huskies (3-1) to finish in double figures scoring as Mikayla Voigt finished with 19, while Ally May added 10. Voigt was one assist away from a double-double herself as the Huskie junior dished out a career-high nine assists.
NIU entered the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead as the two teams essentially traded baskets much of the third quarter. The Huskies opened up a 14-point lead when they went on a 7-2 run early in the fourth quarter. NIU went on a 10-2 run the final four minutes of the game to pull away from the Cougars (0-4).
The Huskies set the tone early, opening the game with an 8-0 run, eventually building a 15-point lead early in the second quarter. However, the Cougars battled back, going on a 7-0 run to cut the NIU lead to six points. That was the closest Chicago State would get.
NIU regained control and pushed the lead back to 10 on lay ups by Voigt and Courtney Woods. The Huskies went into halftime with a 41-31 lead.
“It got sloppy in the middle a little bit, but the end was good,” Carlsen said. “I thought we played a pretty good fourth quarter and that’s important because we played a lot of kids.”
NIU shot 50 percent from the field, while holding the Cougars to 39.7 percent. The Huskies also outrebounded the Cougars, 43-33, including 24 defensive rebounds. The NIU defense forced 24 Cougar turnovers and made a season-high 14 steals.
The Huskies are back in action Friday when they travel to San Antonio, Texas for the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic. NIU opens the tournament with UTSA at 3 p.m. and conclude play in the event Saturday at 1 p.m. versus Lamar.
