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MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team trailed by as much as 16, but rallied to tie inside the final minute before falling, 68-66, to Central Michigan on Wednesday night at McGuirk Arena. Sophomore Aaric Armstead (Chicago, Ill./La Jolla Prep) scored a team-high 19 points and senior Jordan Threloff (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb/Illinois State) added a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Senior Anthony Johnson (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young/Purdue) added 12 points and junior Travon Baker (Detroit, Mich./Detroit Consortium) chipped in 11 points.

After shooting 56 percent (14-of-25) in the first half, the NIU defense held Central Michigan to just 33.3 percent (7-of-21) shooting after the intermission.

“We needed to play a better first half,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have a great first half but I liked the way our guys battled back from 16 down to be in the game at halftime. I knew we would come out of the locker room and perform. We just had to keep grinding, if you have six players, seven players, eight players, whatever it is, you have to keep grinding.

“I loved the effort, I loved that we tied it, I just wish we could have gotten one more stop.”

Central Michigan led by 11, 41-30, at the intermission but a 6-0 burst early in the second half cut the Central Michigan lead to eight as Aaric Armstead converted a layup, Johnson made a pair of free throws and Threloff made a bucket to cut the Chippewa lead to 44-36.

Central Michigan had pushed its lead back to 11, 54-43, until back-to-back baskets by Aaric Armstead cut the deficit to just seven, 54-47, with just over eight minutes to play. Following in a timeout, Aaric Armstead knocked down a corner triple to cut the gap to just four, 54-50.

After the lead was pushed to seven, sophomore Michael Orris (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee/Kansas State) made a basket, Threloff  connected on a free throw and Aaric Armstead made another three to trim the lead to just one, 64-63, with 2:06 to play.

A bucket by the Chippewas pushed the lead to three but Baker knocked down a trifecta to pull the Huskies even with just 38 seconds to play.

On the next possession, Central Michigan missed the initial shot but tipped-in the rebound with 3.7 seconds left. Following a couple of timeouts, NIU raced the length of the floor but couldn’t find the basket as time expired and Central Michigan held on for the two-point victory.

Braylon Rayson scored 23 points to lead the Chippewas; John Simons added 11 and Chris Fowler added 10 points.

Four triples in the opening four minutes from Rayson helped Central Michigan race out to a 14-3 lead in the early going.

Baskets from Aaric Armstead, Johnson and Baker helped NIU trim the Central Michigan lead back to seven, 16-9, with just over 13 minutes to play in the opening half.

NIU trimmed the Central Michigan lead to a half-dozen on a triple from Orris, but the Chippewas responded with the next 10 to take a 30-14 lead with eight minutes left before the intermission.

The Huskies answered with the next six, capped by a pair of free throws from Aaric Armstead, to trim the CMU lead back to 10, 30-20, with 5:36 to play in the first half.

Central Michigan was in front by 15 before a layup from Threloff and a corner triple by Baker trimmed the lead back to 10, 40-30. The Chippewas split a pair of free throws just before the end of the half to take an 11-point lead into the intermission.

The Huskies will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 21, as they host Eastern Michigan in the second half of a doubleheader. The NIU women’s basketball team will host Ball State at 5 p.m., followed by the Huskie men against the Eagles. Both games will be available on ESPN3.