Dec. 27, 2010

Final Stats

Final Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Northern Illinois men's basketball team fell behind early at No. 10 Missouri on Monday night and was unable to recover, falling 97-61 at the Mizzou Arena. Junior forward Tim Toler led NIU with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Missouri opened the game with a 17-0 run and took a 57-17 lead into the intermission; NIU outscored Missouri 44-40 in the second half.

"In the second half we played better as a group but they didn't press as much and played some zone, even though they trapped out of it," said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. "In the first half we came out and just didn't handle the pressure"

The Tigers forced the Huskies into 19 turnovers in the contest while improving to 12-1 on the season; NIU drops to 3-7 with the loss. Missouri's victory was its 55th consecutive home win against non-conference foes.

"In the first half I didn't think we moved the ball as well as we should, particularity against a trapping defense, said Patton. "You have to hit the first open guy. We didn't convert enough baskets and that was the key to the game."

Missouri jumped on NIU quickly, scoring the first nine points of the contest, forcing a Northern Illinois timeout two minutes into the game.

The Tigers burst to start the game reached 17-0 before senior guard Xavier Silas made a 15-foot jumper to get the Huskies on the board.

Following the Silas basket, sophomore guard Tony Nixon hit a triple from the wing and junior forward Cameron Madlock scored in the paint as the NIU offense briefly found a rhythm. But Missouri then stifled NIU again as the Tigers went on a 20-3 run after the Madlock basket to push its advantage to 43-9 with eight minutes to play in the first half.

Missouri took a 57-17 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Tigers shot 65.7 percent (23-of-35) in the opening 20 minutes while holding the Huskies to just 23.1 percent (6-of-26) shooting. Missouri outscored Northern Illinois 20-1 off of turnovers in the opening stanza.

Missouri's Matt Pressey led all scorers with 13 before the intermission; Marcus Denmon added 11 for the Tigers.

Senior guard Jeremy Landers scored six points in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second stanza as the Huskies played even with the Tigers to open the half.  

NIU went on a 7-0 run, beginning with a Madlock free throw with 14:10 to play in the second half. Madlock added another basket before Silas knocked down a pair of free throws and Landers capped the run with a jumper.

Toler ensured that NIU would outscore Missouri in the second half as he scored scored seven consecutive points down the stretch as NIU finished the game on a 10-2 spurt.

Denmon led five Missouri players in double figures with 24 points. Pressey added 18, Laurence Bowers scored 16, Ricardo Ratliffe chipped in 14 and Justin Safford netted 10 as Missouri finished the game shooting 56.9 percent (37-of-65) from the field.

The Huskies will return to the NIU Convocation Center on Friday, Dec. 31, when they host Utah Valley. Game time against the Wolverines is slated for 1 p.m.

-- NIU --