Jan. 3, 2011
Final Stats
Final Box in PDF Format
Iowa State 72, Northern Illinois 63
Hilton Coliseum | Ames, Iowa
|
|
|
1st |
2nd |
Final |
Northern Illinois
|
25 |
38 |
63 |
Iowa State
|
29 |
43 |
72 |
|
|
|
| Player of the Game |
 |
Xavier Silas
Points: 18
FG: 7-17 (.412)
Assists: 4
|
|
Team Stats
|
NIU |
OPP |
FG Percentage
|
37.1 |
35.9 |
| 3-Point FG Percentage |
28.6 |
31.8 |
| FT Percentage |
62.5 |
65.5 |
Offensive Rebounds
|
19 |
14 |
| Defensive Rebounds |
32 |
27 |
| Total Rebounds |
51 |
41 |
Assists
|
11 |
11 |
Turnovers
|
19 |
9 |
Blocks
|
2 |
6 |
Steals
|
6 |
11 |
Points in the Paint
|
32 |
32 |
Points off Turnovers
|
11 |
17 |
|
|
| |
AMES, Iowa - Senior guard Xavier Silas scored 18 points but the Northern Illinois men's basketball team came up just short on Monday night at Iowa State, falling 72-63. The Huskies gave the Cyclones all they could handle, trailing by just five with under four minutes to play, but were unable cut the deficit in the final moments.
Freshman guard Aksel Bolin added 10 points and junior forward Tim Toler had seven points and 10 rebounds.
"If you look at the stats, we won almost every category," said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. "But we didn't get to the free-throw line enough, only eight times to 29 times. We also committed 19 turnovers. In the first half we saw that we could play with them, we saw that we could score with them, but we got in a hurry to do that."
Iowa State shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24) in the second half to earn the victory.
Both teams got off to a slow start as Northern Illinois held a 4-2 lead four-and-a-half minutes into the contest at the first media timeout.
With Iowa State leading by a pair, Bolin scored five-straight to give NIU an 11-8 edge with 10:37 to play in the half.
The Cyclones responded with the next eight to take a five-point advantage before a jumper by sophomore guard Tony Nixon stopped the Iowa State run and cut the ISU lead to three, 16-13.
Five consecutive points from Silas tied the contest, 18-18, with five minutes remaining until the intermission. Iowa State outscored NIU 11-7 over those final five minutes to take a 29-25 lead into the half.
Silas led all scorers with 11 points at the intermission; Diante Garrett led Iowa State with seven points at the break. Both teams struggled from the field in the opening 20 minutes as the Huskies shot just 30.6 percent (11-of-36) and the Cyclones shot just 25.0 percent (10-of-40).
Iowa State went 6-of-10 from the free-throw line in the first half while Northern Illinois was 0-of-2 from the charity stripe.
Freshman forward Nate Rucker scored six of the first eight out of the intermission for the Huskies but Iowa State maintained its four-point advantage early in the second stanza, 37-33.
A triple by the Cyclones increased their lead to seven before back-to-back baskets at the rim by junior forward Lee Fisher brought Northern Illinois back within three, 44-41. The NIU run reached 7-0 on a three-pointer off glass by senior guard Michael Patton to tie the contest with 11:16 to play in the second half.
Iowa State followed the Patton triple with a 9-0 run to take a 53-44 lead before Silas ended the run with an old-fashioned three-point play with 8:21 remaining.
The Cyclones responded with the next five points to push their lead to double-digits, 58-47.
Trailing by a dozen, Bolin sparked a 7-0 NIU run with a triple from the corner to bring the Huskies within five, 65-60, with under four minutes to play.
Following that run, Iowa State held NIU scoreless for over three minutes as the Cyclones used a 6-0 run of their own to secure the victory.
Garrett scored a game-high 22 points to lead Iowa State. Jake Anderson added 16 while Melvin Ejim and Jamie Vanderbeken each chipped in 11 points.
The Huskies will return home to DeKalb on Saturday, Jan. 8, as they open Mid-American Conference play against Ball State. Game time at the NIU Convocation Center is set for 3 p.m.
