DEKALB, Ill. – Senior Levi Bradley (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while senior guard Dante Thorpe (Washington, D.C./Triton College) added a career-best 24 points but Northern Kentucky outlasted the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team, 88-85, in double overtime at the NIU Convocation Center.
The Norse shot 58.3 percent combined in the two overtimes (7-of-12), including 4-of-6 from three-point range, to earn the three-point road win.
"Unbelievable double overtime game, one that I told my team will probably did enough to win and lose," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "We hit big shots to force overtime, we got up in that first overtime by six and seemed like we were a possession away from putting it away but that's just how basketball is.
"The good thing is went get to play Northern Kentucky again and hopefully we will go down there and return the favor. It was a heck of a game, we got a lot of good basketball out of a lot of guys, we just came up a little short tonight."
Senior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to record his second career double-double.
With his 25 points and 12 rebounds, Bradley posted his second consecutive double-double, and the ninth of his career, while also eclipsing the 1,000 career point plateau. The senior from Milwaukee appeared in his 100th consecutive game on Friday night and has now scored 1,010 career points.
A 10-2 run by Northern Kentucky late in the second half gave the Norse a five-point lead, 65-60, entering the final minute of regulation time. Thorpe made a floater with 49 seconds left to trim the Norse lead to three and, after the Huskies got a defensive stop, the Washington, D.C., native drained a trifecta with 13 ticks remaining to pull the Huskies even at 65.
NIU got another stop on the final possession of regulation as the game went to overtime.
In the first extra period, the Huskies got off to a great start as Thorpe made a free throw before Bradley followed with a pair of free throws and an old-fashioned three-point play as the Huskies took a 71-65 lead. Northern Kentucky answered with eight of the next 10 to even the game at 73, as Zaynah Robinson, who didn't score in regulation, made back-to-back triples to pull the Norse even.
Bradley then made a jumper with 26.6 seconds to play to put the Huskies back in front by a pair, but Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year Drew McDonald answered with a basket for Northern Kentucky to tie the game at 75 with 14.8 seconds left.
The Huskies had a chance to win it in overtime, but Thorpe was whistled for an offensive foul as the game went to a second overtime period.
In the second extra frame, it was Northern Kentucky that got off to the hot start as the Norse scored the first six to take an 81-75 lead with 2:51 left.
NIU continued to chip away at the Northern Kentucky lead and Thorpe brought the Huskies within three, 86-83, with a pair of free throws with 49 seconds to play. On the following possession, Bradley drew a charge to give the ball back to NIU. The senior from Milwaukee then grabbed an offensive rebounds and scored on the put-back, bringing the Huskies within one, 86-85, with 5.5 seconds to play.
Following a Huskie foul, Robinson made a pair from the line as Northern Kentucky escaped with a three-point victory.
McDonald scored 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Norse; Tyler Sharpe and Dantez Walton each added 16 while Robinson scored all 13 of his points in the two overtime periods.
Neither team led by more than four in the first half until NIU closed the opening 20 minutes with a 9-0 run to take a 35-27 lead into the intermission. Northern Kentucky answered with a 14-0 run early in the second half to reclaim the lead, 42-39.
The two teams then went back-and-forth, with no lead larger than four, until the 10-2 Northern Kentucky run that gave the Norse a five-point lead entering the final minute of regulation.
NIU and Northern Kentucky will meet again on Thursday, December 20, in the second game of an in-season home-and-home in Highland Heights, Ky.
The Huskies will be back in action on Saturday, November 17, when they host Illinois Tech at 2 p.m. The NIU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be hosting a canned food drive for Salvation Army when the Huskies host the Scarlet Hawks.
