Tuesday (At Byron) (Boys Basketball)
Byron 72 (13-2), (3-0)
Stillman Valley 45 (6-8), (0-2)
**Byron: Led 33-20 at Half Time and 49-33 after 3 Quarters
**Byron: 4 players in double figures
**Riley Adams: 15 pts
**Anthony Eddy and Pauly Rico: 12 pts each
**Connor Harn: 11 pts
**Noah Hodges (SV): 10 pts
Polo 80 AFC 36
**Polo: Led 34-21 at Half Time (30-5 3rd Quarter)
**Justin Young (Polo): 22 pts
Sterling 62 Geneseo 36
Hinsdale South 63 DeKalb 39
Freeport 63 Dixon 55
Marengo 51 Genoa-Kingston 40
Streator 51 LaSalle-Peru 41
Ottawa Marquette 57 Mendota 41
West Carroll 41 Eastland 38
Orion 49 Erie 43
Morrison 41 Fulton 35
Girls Basketball
Byron 48 Oregon 45
**Bailey Montavon (Oregon): 21 pts
Rockford Lutheran 50 Stillman Valley 31
Kaneland 50 Dekalb 25
Forreston 45 Lena-Winslow 34
Dixon 55 Morrison 30
Rock Falls 46 North Boone 22
Sterling 47 LaSalle-Peru 24
Wrestling
At Sterling Newman
Oregon 33 Mendota 16
Oregon 42 Sterling Newman 37
Sherrard 42 Oregon 36
At Durand
Polo 42 West Carroll 41
Polo 34 Durand 18
Bowling
(Town & Country Lanes in Mt. Morris)
Boys
Peru St. Bede 3,275
Oregon 3,001 (275 Pins)
**Oregon: Justin Poole 730 High Series
Girls
Oregon 2,893
Peru St. Bede 2,460 (433 Pins)
**Oregon: Caitlyn Kaltenbrun 640 High Series
Boys Swimming
(At DeKalb)
DeKalb 122
Byron Co-Op 47
College Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team trailed by as much as 17 before storming back to pull within one but was unable to pull off the comeback as it fell, 66-57, to Bowling Green on Tuesday night at the Stroh Center.
The Huskies used a 14-0 run to get within one with just six minutes left and stayed within a possession until the closing moments when the Falcons pulled away for the nine-point victory.
Sophomore Eugene German scored a game-high 19 points, 17 of which came after halftime, junior Levi Bradley scored 13 points despite being limited to 20 minutes due to foul trouble and sophomore Noah McCarty added a career-high 10 points and tied a career-high with six rebounds.
“It was disappointing, you have to play two halves,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “I thought we played hard, but we have to play a little smarter … We started getting consecutive stops, and when you get consecutive stops you can get out in transition and get something easy. Then we got the ball inside like we wanted to do in the first half. We missed a lot of chippies in the first half, and we made them in the second half.”
Bowling Green (11-5, 2-1 MAC) led 52-37 just past the midway point of the second half when a 7-0 burst from the Huskies cut the gap nearly in half. Bradley opened the burst with a free throw, German added a free throw and a layup before finding Bradley on a drop-off as the Huskies cut the Falcon lead to 52-44 with 7:41 to play.
Following a Bowling Green timeout, the NIU (8-8, 1-2 MAC) run reached 14-0 as German knocked in a triple and added a pair from the line before junior Dante Thorpe closed the run with a bucket to bring NIU within one, 52-51, with just under six minutes left.
Thorpe finished with six points.
The Falcons finally stopped the NIU run with a triple to push their lead back to four. The two teams traded free throws before Bradley finished near the rim to bring NIU back within a pair, 57-55, with 3:34 left.
Bowling Green scored the next four as the lead went back up to a half-dozen before a layup from McCarty brought the Huskies within four with less than two minutes to go. NIU had a chance to get closer after a Falcon turnover but a corner triple wouldn’t go for the Huskies and Bowling Green escaped with the victory.
Demajeo Wiggins led the Falcons with 15 points and 15 rebounds, Justin Turner added 14 points and Dylan Frye chipped in 11.
Thorpe’s second basket of the early going gave the Huskies a 6-3 lead but Bowling Green scored the next 11 to take a 14-6 advantage with 12:37 to play in the opening half.
After a triple from sophomore Justin Thomas slowed the Bowling Green run, the Falcons answered with the next six as they pushed their lead to 20-9 at the midway point of the first stanza.
Baskets by McCarty and Bradley brought the Huskies back within seven before Bowling Green used a 13-4 run to take a 16-point lead, its largest of the first half. The Falcons took a 33-19 advantage into the intermission.
NIU will return home on Saturday, Jan. 13 as the Huskies host Eastern Michigan at 3:30 p.m., at the NIU Convocation Center. Saturday's contest is Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day, all NIU Faculty and Staff can receive two free tickets by showing their OneCard at the Convocation Center Box Office.
