Final Stats | Final Stats in PDF 

MUNCIE, Ind. – With a chance to pull into a tie for first-place in the Mid-American Conference West Division, the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team fell, 63-59, to Ball State on Friday night at Worthen Arena. Senior Travon Baker (Detroit, Mich./Detroit Consortium) scored a game-high 19 points but the Huskies were unable to overcome 31.6 percent (18-of-57) shooting on the road.

Sophomore Marin Maric (Split, Croatia/La Lumiere School) recorded his sixth consecutive double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

“I loved the effort on defense, I thought we played hard,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “Unfortunately we could not get it going offensively, we hung around, but sooner or later your playmakers have to make plays, and Ball State’s did.

“It comes down to the little things, even after a slow start to the second half, we still had 18 minutes left. There were a lot of little things that cost us tonight.”

Leading 9-8, freshman Laytwan Porter (Rockford, Ill./Auburn) finished a layup at the rim and senior Chuks Iroegbu (Sacramento, Calif./Franklin/City College of San Francisco) added a pair of free throws to push the NIU lead to 13-8 with just over 12 minutes to play in the opening half. The Huskies still led by five, 15-10, until six-straight from the Cardinals gave Ball State a one-point lead with 8:49 left before the intermission.

A free throw by Maric and a layup from junior Michael Orris (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee/Kansas State) pushed the Huskies back in front, but Ball State scored the next six, taking a 22-18 lead with three-and-a-half minutes left before the intermission.

Freshman Jaylen Key (Milwaukee, Wis./Homestead) answered with a pair of free throws and Baker knocked down a triple to push the Huskies back in front, 23-22. After a pair of free throws from Ball State, junior Aaric Armstead (Chicago, Ill./La Jolla Prep) split a pair at the line to send the game to the intermission tied, 24-24.

Ball State stormed out of the locker room with the first eight points, taking a 32-24 lead and forcing a NIU timeout. The Huskies scored the next four on a pair of free throws from Maric and a layup from Baker.

The Cardinals answered with a 13-4 run to take a 45-32 lead with just over 11 minutes to play. Back-to-back baskets from Maric cut the Cardinal lead back to nine until a Ball State triple pushed the lead back to a dozen, 48-36, with 9:09 left.

A triple from Baker cut the Ball State lead to just seven, 53-46, with a little over four minutes remaining. A free throw from freshman Marshawn Wilson (Oakdale, Minn./Hill-Murray) trimmed the Cardinals advantage to six until Ball State split a pair of free throws, grabbed the offensive rebound of the miss of the second free throw and canned a triple to push the lead to 10, 57-47, with 2:35 left.

After holding Ball State to just 32 percent (8-of-25) shooting in the first half, the Cardinals shot 46.4 percent (13-of-28) in the second 20 minutes.

Five players scored in double figures for Ball State, led by 11 points from Franko House and Francis Kiapway; Bo Calhoun, Jeremie Tyler and Sean Sellers each added 10 points and Calhoun recorded a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Huskies will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 23, when they travel to Central Michigan. Game time against the Chippewas is scheduled for 6 p.m., CT and will be available on ESPN3.