AMES, Iowa – For 20 minutes, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with Iowa State, but a big second half from the Cyclones helped Iowa State to a 70-52 victory over the Huskies on Tuesday night (Nov. 12) at Hilton Coliseum.

Senior Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a game-high 24 points, 17 of which came in the first half, and grabbed six rebounds as NIU held a three-point lead at the intermission.

"We won every four-minute segment in the first half," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "(In the second half) they scored the first four or six points and we had to call a quick timeout. You want to make it to that first media timeout. We had a great game plan, we were going underneath ball screens, they were shooting a lot of threes, and missing, but (in the second half) sometimes we didn't get the rebound or we made a bad decision on offense and Iowa State was out and running."

NIU (0-2) jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening four minutes of the contest. A five-point burst on a layup from senior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) and a triple from German helped give the Huskies the early advantage.

Iowa State (2-1) scored the next five to pull even, but another trifecta from German and a free throw by junior Chris Johnson (Chicago, Ill./South Suburban College) helped NIU regain the lead, 11-7, with 13:13 to play in the opening half.

Leading by three, freshman Tyler Cochran (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) scored off an offensive rebound and German hit sophomore Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) on the wing for a triple as the Huskies took a 23-15 lead with just under eight minutes to play before the break, forcing a Cyclone timeout.

Hankerson finished with six points and five rebounds.

A triple from junior Rod Henry-Hayes (Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township) pushed the Huskies advantage to 26-15, but Iowa State responded with an 12-3 burst to cut the NIU lead to just a pair, 29-27, with just under four minutes left before the intermission.

NIU held off the Cyclones over the final four minutes of the opening stanza as the Huskies took a 34-31 lead into the break. NIU shot 44.4 percent (12-of-27) in the first half, including 4-of-9 from three-point range, while holding Iowa State to just 34.5 percent (10-of-29) shooting and 1-of-12 from beyond the arc.

Iowa State raced out to a 9-2 start to the second half, taking a 40-36 lead and forcing a Huskie timeout just three minutes into the second 20 period.

After a layup on the break from German trimmed the Iowa State lead back to a pair, the Cyclones went on a 17-2 run as their lead ballooned to 57-40 with just under nine minutes left.

The Cyclones shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) from the field in the second half while holding NIU to just 18.2 percent (6-of-33) shooting.

Rasir Bolton scored a team-high 17 points to lead Iowa State, Solomon Young chipping in 15 points while Michael Jacobson scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Junior Gairges Daow (Melbourne, Australia/Victory Rock Academy) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Huskies, who outrebounded Iowa State, 47-36, including 19-9 on the offensive end.

NIU will return home on Friday night, November 15, as the Huskies host Coppin State at the NIU Convocation Center, tipoff is scheduled for 6 pm. Tickets for all remaining home games, including season tickets and flex passes, are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225).