DEKALB, Ill. – Leading by one with four minutes to play, Central Michigan scored 10-straight points to defeat the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team, 78-69, on Tuesday night at the NIU Convocation Center, ending the perfect start to Mid-American Conference play for the Huskies. 

The Chippewas shot 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from the field in the second half, including 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from three-point range. Senior Levi Bradley (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Huskies, senior Dante Thorpe (Washington, D.C./Triton College) added 18 points and junior Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) chipped in 13. 

"Credit Central Michigan, it seemed like they didn't miss a three late, they came in and hit 13 of them," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "I was proud of my team that, after we got down 13 points in the first half, we battled back to (down) four, we tied it early in the second half but it just seemed like we couldn't get over the hump.

"It was a one-possession game with four minutes to go, but we just couldn't make that one basket to give us the lead. I thought we had good shots, they just didn't go in."

Central Michigan (14-3, 3-1 MAC) jumped out to a 9-2 lead to open the contest before back-to-back baskets from Thorpe and senior Jaylen Key (Milwaukee, Wis./Homestead) trimmed the CMU lead to just three. 

The Chippewas answered right back with the next 10 to take their largest lead of the contest, 19-6, with 11:22 left in the first half. 

With CMU in front by a dozen, eight-straight NIU points, on a pair of baskets each by Bradley and Thorpe, brought the Huskies back within four, 23-19, with just under six minutes left before the intermission. 

Central Michigan swung back with seven points in just over a minutes to push the lead back to 11, before NIU closed the half on a 7-1 run to cut the deficit to 31-27 at the intermission. 

NIU (10-7, 3-1 MAC) committed 11 first half turnovers that Central Michigan turned into 13 points while the Chippewas committed seven turnovers, but the Huskies converted them into just two points. Thorpe and Bradley each had 11 points at the break to pace NIU. 

Sophomore Rod Henry-Hayes (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) and German scored the first two baskets of the second half to bring NIU even, but Central Michigan scored the next eight to and built the lead to as much as 44-33 inside the first four minutes of the second half. 

The back-and-forth swings continued as the Huskies scored the next eight on triples from German and Thorpe, followed by a jumper from Bradley, to cut the CMU lead to just three. CMU continued to hold a one or two possession lead heading into the game's final minutes. 

A layup by senior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) with 4:23 left cut the Central Michigan advantage to just one, 66-65. NIU got a stop on the next possession and had the ball with a chance to take the lead as the clock ticked under four minutes, but a corner triple try wouldn't go. 

James finished with six points and a team-high nine rebounds. 

Central Michigan converted a pair of free throws, got a defensive stop and made another free throw to lead by four, 69-65, with a little less than three minutes to play. The Huskies then had a pair of chances missed and the Chippewas came back down with a three-pointer to take a seven-point lead with 2:02 left to put the game away. 

Shawn Roundtree led CMU with 21 points, David DiLeo added 18, Rob Montgomery chipped in 16 points and Kevin McKay scored 10. 

NIU will head back on the road on Saturday, January 19, as the Huskies travel to Kent State. Game time against the Golden Flashes is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN3.