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DEKALB, Ill. – Junior Aaric Armstead (Chicago, Ill./La Jolla Prep) scored a career-high 22 points as the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team improved to 5-0 with an 87-55 victory over Indiana University Northwest on Wednesday night at the NIU Convocation Center. The Huskies held the RedHawks to just 27.1 percent shooting (19-of-70) in the contest, including just 22.9 percent (8-of-35) in the second half.

Sophomore Marin Maric (Split, Croatia/La Lumiere School) and freshman Jaylen Key (Milwaukee, Wis./Homestead) each added 10 points while junior Michael Orris (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee/Kansas State) chipped in 10 points and six assists with no turnovers. Senior Travon Baker (Detroit, Mich./Detroit Consortium) grabbed a game-high, and career-best, 10 rebounds and recorded five assists.

“We found a way to do enough to win the game,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “I don’t think it was our best performance but when you come away with a 30-point win you should be happy. I thought that we played a little bit sluggish but we got it going in the second half and made a statement.”

With the 5-0 start, the 2015-16 Huskies become just the eighth team in school history to start a season 5-0 or better.

The Huskies led 8-7 in the early going until a 6-0 NIU burst helped the Huskies open up a seven-point gap, 14-7, just less than five minutes into the contest. Key made a pair of buckets during the burst and senior Chuks Iroegbu (Sacramento, Calif./Franklin/City College of San Francisco) added the other to give the Huskies the early cushion.

The NIU lead was five, 22-17, until a 7-0 run pushed the lead to double figures for the first time, 29-17, with 6:58 left in the first half. Maric opened the burst with a layup, Key added a jumper and Orris converted an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Huskies in front by a dozen.

NIU led by 14 in the final minute of the first half before back-to-back triples for Indiana Northwest cut the lead to just eight, 42-34, at the intermission.

Maric and Orris each had eight points in the opening 20 minutes to lead the way as the Huskies shot 50 percent (17-of-34) in the first half.

After the break, the RedHawks trimmed the lead to just six, 44-38, on a basket by Cody Artuso, but NIU answered with a 20-0 run to take a 64-38 lead with just over 13 minutes to play in the contest.

Armstead scored 11 of the first 13 to ignite the run, including three triples, to propel the Huskies to the win.

D.J. Teague and Jairen Hunt each scored seven points to lead Indiana Northwest.

NIU will return to action on Saturday night, Nov. 28, when the Huskies hit the road for the first time this season, travelling to face Idaho. Game time against the Vandals is scheduled for 9 p.m. CT.