Eleven different players scored, including seven with at least eight points, as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team earned a 99-73 victory over Purdue Northwest on Monday night (Nov. 11) at the NIU Convocation Center. Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) led the way with 20 points, Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) added 14 and seven assists while David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) chipped in 11 points and five assists.
"Tonight, the guys went out and showed who we are as a program and who they are as a team," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We had a really good Sunday where we just focused on ourselves and we knew that we would have a breakthrough, it was just a matter of when. We have a good ballclub, injuries and sickness haven't allowed us to show the true version of ourselves, but we had to go out and perform and that's what they did."
NIU shot 60.6 percent (40-of-66) from the field in the contest, including 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from three-point range. The Huskies had 22 assists in the contest.
An early 9-0 run helped the Huskies get off to a good start, taking a six-point lead. Nutter had six of the nine points to get the NIU offense started. After the Pride pulled back within a pair, 9-7, NIU answered with the next seven as the Huskies took a 16-7 lead with 11 minutes to play in the opening half. Oluwasegun Durosinmi (Lagos, Nigeria/St. Bonaventure) made free throw, followed by baskets from Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill./Iowa Western CC), Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) and Zion Russell (Upper Marlboro, Md./National Christian Academy).
Amos, Russell and Thornton each had eight points off the bench for the Huskies.
Purdue Northwest used a 10-2 burst to trim the NIU advantage back to one, 18-17, with 8:15 left before halftime. The Huskie lead was still one until Williams went on a 9-2 run of his own, giving the Huskies a 30-22 lead with 5:14 left in the opening half.
After a basket by Purdue Northwest brought the Pride within a half-dozen, NIU scored the next seven as Russell made a triple and Nutter added a pair of buckets to give the Huskies a 37-24 lead with 3:11 to play before the intermission.
The NIU advantage reached 16 when Coit knocked in a triple, but Purdue Northwest scored the final five points of the half to cut the Huskie lead to 42-31 at halftime.
Nutter had 12 points to pace NIU in the opening 20 minutes, Alou Dillon had 12 to lead the Pride. NIU shot 58.6 percent (17-of-29) from the field in the first half.
NIU started the second half with an 8-1 burst as the lead grew to 50-32 just two minutes into the second half.
Three minutes later, the Huskies went on an 11-2 run to take a 69-40 lead with 12:53 to play and they never looked back.
Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich./Middle Tennessee) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, to go along with nine points. NIU had a 22-4 edge in fast break points and an 18-8 advantage in second chance points.
Dillon led Purdue Northwest with 15 points, Tyran Rodgers added 13 for the visitors.
NIU will now embark on an eight-game trip away from home beginning Thursday night, Nov. 14, as the Huskies travel to Georgia Tech. Game time against the Yellow Jackets is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and will be available on the ACC Network.
Original source can be found here.
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