Four players scored in double figures, led by 23 points from Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team downed McKendree, 79-76, in an exhibition game on Monday night (Oct. 31) at the NIU Convocation Center.
Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) scored 19 points, David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) added 13 and Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich./Middle Tennesee) finished with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
"Tonight, was a really good challenge for our guys," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We haven't played an opponent since (an August international trip to) Canada, so we showed some rust. I'm happy with the outcome, more so than the score. These guys battled, we went down five and you could easily fold tent and get down on yourselves, blame each other. But those guys battled, I knew we were mentally tough going into this game, so I was really proud to see that."
A basket by Zion Russell (Upper Marlboro, Md./National Christian Academy) midway through the opening half put the Huskies in front, 13-12, and ignited an 11-2 burst as NIU took a 22-14 lead with 7:22 left before the intermission. Armandas Plintauskas (Kedainiai, Lithuania) knocked in a triple before Darweshi Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio/Weber State), Crump and Nutter all added buckets during the run.
The Huskie lead grew to as large as 11 in the first half as Williams converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Crump followed with a finish at the rim, giving NIU a 31-19 lead with three minutes left in the half.
McKendree cut the NIU advantage back to five before Coit scored the final four points of the opening 20 minutes, giving the Huskies a 39-30 lead at the break.
NIU shot 53.1 percent (17-of-32) from the field in the first half while holding McKendree to just 25 percent (9-of-36) shooting. Nutter led all scorers with a dozen at the half while Milos Vicentic had 11 to pace the Bearcats.
A 6-2 burst to open the second half gave the Huskies a 45-32 lead, Williams scored four of the six to open the second stanza for the Huskies.
The NIU lead was nine when McKendree went on a 14-0 run to take a 55-50 lead with 13:20 to play. The Bearcats still led by five, 57-52, when the Huskies used a five-point burst to pull even at 57.
Tied at 59, McKendree converted a three-point play to take a 62-59 lead with just over nine minutes left, but NIU responded with a 14-2 run to lead 73-64 with under five to go. Williams scored the first four during the run, Nutter added a pair of free throws, Coit made back-to-back threes and Crump finished the run with two from the charity stripe.
McKendree scored the next seven to cut the Huskie lead back to a pair, 73-71, before a Williams bucket and a triple from Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young), sandwiched around a Bearcat free throw, put NIU in front, 78-72, with 68 seconds left.
Vicentic scored a game-high 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for McKendree, Bryson Bultman scored 14 points with 13 rebounds.
NIU will open the regular season next Monday night, Nov. 7, when the Huskies host Illinois Springfield at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at NIUHuskies.com.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up