OXFORD, Ohio – Four players scored in double figures as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team shot 57.7 percent (30-of-52) to earn its second-straight road game, 83-70, over Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday night at Millett Hall.
Senior
Dante Thorpe (Washington, D.C./Triton College) scored a game-high 24 points with a game-best seven rebounds and five assists. Junior
Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) added 23 points, senior
Levi Bradley (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) had 16 points and senior
Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) added 10 points.
With the win, NIU improved to 9-6 overall, 2-0 in Mid-American Conference play. Coupled with Saturday's win at Ohio, it was the first back-to-back road wins for the Huskies since January 10-14, 2017, when NIU won at Kent State and Bowling Green.
"I'm proud of our team," said NIU head coach
Mark Montgomery. "
Levi Bradley carried us a little early in the second half and we didn't get him enough touches in the second half.
Dante Thorpe played extremely well, (
Eugene German) was (
Eugene German) and Lacey (James) didn't get a lot of touches, they doubled him but he still had 10 (points).
"We shot the ball extremely well, especially on the road, and there are no complaints, other than maybe taking care of the ball better, we had 14 turnovers. It is a great way to start the MAC."
The victory was just NIU's fourth all-time in Oxford, Ohio, three of which have come during Montgomery's tenure.
Bradley scored the first six points of the contest to pace the Huskies early as Miami led, 11-6, to open the game.
The RedHawks were in front 17-12 before an 8-0 burst by the Huskies gave NIU a three-point edge. German sparked the run with a pair of free throws before back-to-back triples by James and Bradley put the Huskies in front, 20-17, with just over nine minutes to play in the opening half.
A triple by Thorpe from the top of the key helped NIU lead by a half-dozen, 30-24, with 5:06 remaining before the intermission.
Miami (8-7, 0-2 MAC) trimmed the NIU lead back to three until Bradley and junior
Noah McCarty (Rock Falls, Ill./Sterling Newman) connected on consecutive trifectas to give NIU its largest lead of the first half, 39-30. The Huskies led again by nine after a floater from German before the RedHawks split a pair of free throws to cut the NIU advantage to 43-35 at the intermission.
Bradley led all scorers with 14 points in the first half as the Huskies went 7-of-12 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
Baskets by German and Thorpe helped the NIU lead grow to 51-40 early in the second stanza.
Miami pulled back within a six, 59-53, before a pair of free throws from James stopped a 4-0 mini-run by the RedHawks with 8:32 left in the contest.
Leading by seven, German converted back-to-back buckets to push the NIU advantage back to double-digits, 71-60, with 3:35 to play. After Miami got a basket, Thorpe knocked in a triple and, following a defense stop, German made a pair of free throws as the NIU lead grew to 14 and the Huskies never looked back.
NIU shot 50 percent (9-of-18) from three-point range in the contest and went 14-of-17 from the free-throw line (82.4 percent).
Miami shot just 37.5 percent (12-of-32) in the second half, including just 12.5 percent (2-of-16) from three-point range. Nike Sibande led the RedHawks with 16 points, Darrian Ringo added 14, Dalonte Brown had 12 and Bam Bowman scored 10 points for Miami.
NIU will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, January 12, when the Huskies host Akron in their MAC home opener. Saturday's contest is Pup Club Day and we will also be celebrating Victor E. Huskie's Birthday, tickets are available from the NIU Convocation Center Box Office, by calling 815-753-PACK (7225) or by visiting NIUHuskies.com/tickets.
