DEKALB, Ill. – Four players scored in double figures, led by 21 points from senior Aaric Armstead (Chicago, Ill./La Jolla Prep), as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team claimed a 92-81 victory over UIC on Saturday afternoon in the final game of the NIU Thanksgiving Classic at the NIU Convocation Center. 

NIU shot 54.8 percent (34-of-62) from the field; freshman Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a career-best 17 points, senior Marin Maric (Split, Croatia/La Lumiere School) added 16 points and sophomore Jaylen Key (Milwaukee, Wis./Homestead) added 12 points. 

"It was a game that we needed," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "After losing three-straight by a combined 11 points, we just needed to find a way to win the game. I thought our energy was great, our effort was great, and we finally finished.

"It was a hard game to officiate, 50 foul calls, no one could get in a rhythm. I thought our inside play was strong, Eugene German gave us an unbelievable lift off the bench"

Early in the contest, NIU used a 10-2 run to take an eight-point lead, 14-6, less than six minutes into the contest. Senior Dontel Highsmith (Dowagiac, Mich./Dowagiac) opened the run with a layup, Armstead and sophomore Levi Bradley (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) added baskets before sophomore Laytwan Porter (Rockford, Ill./Auburn) and German each scored as the Huskies built an early lead. 

Porter finished with seven points and a game-high four assists. 

After UIC trimmed the gap to three, NIU scored the next six to push the lead to nine, 22-13, with just over 11 minutes to play in the half. Bradley opened the burst with a jumper, Maric and Key also added layups during the spurt. 

Bradley finished with eight points off the bench for the Huskies. 

NIU (4-3) led by eight when a 7-0 run for UIC cut the Huskie lead to just one, 34-33, with 2:21 to play in the half. The Huskies led by a pair in the final second when sophomore Austin Pauga (Naperville, Ill./IMG Academy) rebounded a miss by Bradley and just beat the buzzer with a short jumper to give the Huskies a 42-38 lead at the intermission. 

The Huskie shot 50 percent (17-of-34) from the field in the opening 20 minutes and went 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. 

After not connecting of its two three-point tries in the first half, NIU opened the second stanza with a back-to-back triples from Porter and Maric as the NIU lead grew to 48-40. 

Six-straight points from Dikembe Dixson helped UIC cut the NIU lead back to just two, 55-53, but the Huskies answered again with an 8-0 run. 

German got the Huskies started with a layup, Bradley added a dunk before layups from German and Armstead gave NIU a 63-53 advantage with 13 minutes to play. The lead grew to 14 on a jumper from Key with just over nine minutes remaining before eight-straight from the Flames cut the lead to just 73-67 with 7:17 left. 

With under six minutes to go and the Huskies still leading by a half-dozen, Maric made a pair of free throws and, following a miss by UIC, Armstead connected on a corner triple as the lead grew back to double figures, allowing the Huskies to coast home in the final five minutes. 

Dixson led all scorers with 31 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 14-of-20 from the free-throw line for UIC; Marcus Ottey added 16 points and Tarkus Ferguson had 11 for the Flames. 

Earlier in the day, Elon defeated Cal Poly to finish the weekend a perfect 3-0, winning the NIU Thanksgiving Classic.

The Huskies will return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 30, when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind., to face Indiana State.