Feb. 2, 2011
Final Stats
Box Score in PDF Format
Bowling Green 73, Northern Illinois 70
NIU Convocation Center | DeKalb, Ill.
|
|
|
1st |
2nd |
OT |
Final |
Bowling Green
|
33
|
33
|
7
|
73
|
Northern Illinois
|
28 |
38 |
4
|
70 |
|
|
|
| Player of the Game |
 |
Xavier Silas
Points: 23
Rebounds: 7
|
|
Team Stats
|
NIU |
OPP |
FG Percentage
|
36.5 |
41.3 |
| 3-Point FG Percentage |
18.2 |
30.8 |
| FT Percentage |
58.8 |
58.6 |
Offensive Rebounds
|
16 |
9 |
| Defensive Rebounds |
34 |
32 |
| Total Rebounds |
50 |
41 |
Assists
|
5 |
9 |
Turnovers
|
13 |
9 |
Blocks
|
3 |
6 |
Steals
|
5 |
9 |
Points in the Paint
|
24 |
32 |
Points off Turnovers
|
8 |
9 |
|
|
| |
DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois men's basketball team dropped a 73-70 overtime decision to Bowling Green Wednesday night at the NIU Convocation Center. The Huskies forced the extra session after trailing by eight with two minutes left in regulation but came up short in the extra five minutes. Senior guard Xavier Silas led NIU with 23 points and redshirt freshman guard Antone Christian scored 15 off the bench.
"Give credit to Bowling Green, they understand how to play and are a disciplined team," said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. "Anytime you play against a zone you have to make shots and we just didn't make enough plays."
Freshman forward Nate Rucker had his second career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds but fouled out a minute into the overtime.
Bowling Green shot 41.3 percent (26-of-63) from the field in the contest while holding NIU to 36.5 percent (23-of-63) shooting.
A layup by Scott Thomas gave Bowling Green a 65-57 lead with 2:04 left in the second half before back-to-back baskets by Christian cut the Falcons advantage in half.
The Falcons split a pair of free throws, followed by a pair of makes from the line by Silas to trim the Bowling Green lead to three. After the Falcons missed two more from the charity stripe, Christian hit a three to tie the game, 66-66, with 16 seconds left in regulation.
Following a timeout, Bowling Green missed a pair of wild shots in the closing seconds of regulation and the contest headed to overtime.
Rucker made the first basket of the extra session on a put-back, but the Falcons answered with six-straight to lead 72-68. The basket by Rucker would be NIU's only field goal of the overtime as the Huskies went 1-of-10 from the field in the extra session.
Junior forward Lee Fisher made a pair from the line and Bowling Green went 1-of-4 at the stripe in the final minute to give NIU a chance down by three, 73-70, with less than 10 seconds remaining, but a three-point attempt by Silas rimmed out and the Falcons escaped with the victory.
Thomas led Bowling Green with 23 points, A'uston Calhoun added in 16 and 11 rebounds while Dee Brown chipped in 12 points.
In the early going, senior guard Michael Patton knocked down an elbow jumper to give NIU 5-4 advantage until Bowling Green answered with a 10-1 run to take a 14-6 lead with 13:11 to play in the first half.
Christian then made a bucket that sparked a 12-2 burst for NIU. Silas scored eight of the dozen for the Huskies, capped by a triple to give Northern Illinois a 18-16 lead with just under nine minutes left in the opening stanza.
Bowling Green scored the next five points to take a three-point lead, an advantage it still held when Calhoun made a pair of free throws with 28 seconds left in the half to give the Falcons a 33-28 lead at the intermission.
Silas led all scorers with 15 points in the first half; Thomas had nine to lead Bowling Green. The Falcons shot 41.9 percent (13-of-31) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes while the Huskies shot just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) from the field. Bowling Green outscored NIU 14-4 in the paint, but the Huskies held a 12-4 advantage at the charity stripe.
Junior guard Bryan Hall scored the first three points of the second half to pull within a pair, but Bowling Green pushed its lead back to six, 40-34, with 15:27 to play.
After junior guard DeMarcus Grady hit a corner trifecta to bring the Huskies within three, the Falcons used a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays to push the lead back up to nine, 51-42, with 9:33 remaining.
The triple was the first basket of Grady's career.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Rucker cut the Bowling Green lead to six with 9:15 left in the second half, where it hovered until the final two minutes.
NIU will return to the hardwood on Saturday, Feb. 5, when it travels to Ohio for the first of two-straight road contests. Game time against the Bobcats is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT.
