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DEKALB, Ill. –- After trailing by 11 with less than seven minutes to play, the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team pulled within three, but its comeback attempt came up short as the Huskies fell to Eastern Michigan, 54-46, on Saturday afternoon at the EMU Convocation Center.

Sophomore Aaric Armstead (Chicago, Ill./La Jolla Prep) scored a team-high 15 points with a team-best eight rebounds and redshirt freshman Marin Maric (Split, Croatia/La Lumiere School) added 10 points.

In a game that featured 50 total fouls, Eastern Michigan went 25-of-33 (75.8 percent) from the free-throw line while the Huskies went just 12-of-24 (50 percent).

“When you go on the road and hold a team to 54 points, 33 percent shooting, 18 percent from three, you give yourself a chance to win,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “Our defense was good but the turnovers in the first half that led to transition points gave Eastern Michigan a lead (at the half.).

“I thought we played hard enough, we competed hard enough. Guys had great energy and great effort, you just have to find a way to win late and we just missed too many free throws.”

A pair of free throws by Karrington Ward gave Eastern Michigan a 47-36 lead with 6:40 to play when the Huskies made a run to pull within striking distance.

Aaric Armstead opened the run with a pair of free throw. After Eastern Michigan split a pair of free throws, Armstead knocked down a jumper as the Huskies climbed within eight with 4:40 left.

Eastern Michigan split two more free throws to push the lead to nine, but NIU answered with the next five to pull within four, 49-45. Junior Travon Baker (Detroit, Mich./Detroit Consortium) started the run with a layup, Aaric Armstead added a free throw and sophomore Michael Orris (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee/Kansas State) made a layup to cut the lead to four with 2:11 left.

Following another stop by the Huskies, junior Chuks Iroegbu (Elk Grove, Calif./Franklin/City College of San Francisco) split two free throws to cut the gap to just three, 49-46, with 1:14 to play.

NIU had held Eastern Michigan without a field goal since the 12:02 mark, but Jerome Hunter tipped in a missed shot on the Eagles’ next possession with 46 seconds to play to push the lead back to five and help Eastern Michigan thwart the Huskie comeback.

Raven Lee was the only Eagle in double figures; he scored 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Trailing 14-12, Maric converted a layup off a feed from Orris and senior Aaron Armstead (Chicago, Ill./Hales Franciscan/San Jose City College) knocked down a triple, NIU’s fourth of the first half, as the Huskies took a three-point lead, 17-14, with just under nine minutes to play in the first half.

With the Huskies still leading by three, 21-18, Eastern Michigan used a 9-0 run to take a six-point lead, 27-21. Aaric Armstead closed the first half with an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the Eagle lead to three, 27-24, at the intermission.

After the break, Eastern Michigan scored eight of the first nine to push its advantage to 10, 35-25, until back-to-back baskets by Aaric Armstead and Maric trimmed the Eagle lead to a half-dozen with 13:16 to play.

Leading by seven, 43-36, Eastern Michigan made four-straight free throws to push its lead to 11, its largest of the contest, before the NIU run that came up just short.

The Huskies will return home to the NIU Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 21, as they host Akron. Game time against the Zips is slated for 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.