MACOMB, Ill. – In a wild, offensive slugfest, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team made just enough plays to outlast Western Illinois, downing the Leathernecks 86-81 on Wednesday night (Nov. 20) at Western Hall. Senior Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a team-high 26 points and dished out six assists to help lead the Huskies to the five-point win.

NIU (4-2) shot 50 percent (32-of-64) from the field in the contest and 46.2 percent (12-of-26) from behind the three-point line. Western Illinois shot 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the field and 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from three. 

Sophomore Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) and junior Nathan Scott (Naperville, Ill./Olney Central College) each scored 13 points while seniors Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) and Noah McCarty (Rock Falls, Ill./Sterling Newman) each finished just shy of double figures with nine. 

"We always tell our team that it is a game of runs," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "(Western Illinois) is a good shooting team, in two of their losses they were up double-digits, but we found a way. We made big shots when they cut it to two, we shared the ball, we threw it to the open man and we made enough plays.

"Anytime you win on the road we say you have to be under 12 turnovers, we only had eight. I don't know if you have seen our best, but it is hard to win on the road, you have to take it, you have to earn it and we earned it tonight."

Both teams were firing on all cylinders offensively as Western Illinois held a 13-11 lead just over five minutes into the contest. 

NIU then used an 11-2 run to take a 22-15 lead with 11:12 left in the opening half. German scored the first four in the burst, Scott added the next five and sophomore Darius Beane (Carbondale, Ill./Southern Illinois) capped it with a steal and dunk as the Huskies took a seven-point lead. 

Western Illinois (0-4) answered right back with the next six to trim the Huskie advantage to 22-21. With the game tied at 28, a triple by Ben Pyle gave the Leathernecks a three-point lead with just under six minutes to play before the intermission. 

NIU then went on a 13-2 run to take an eight-point lead, 41-33. Hankerson ignited the run with triple, Scott also connected from long range during the run while German added a pair of buckets, junior Gairges Daow (Melbourne, Australia/Victory Rock Academy) made a jumper and Beane made a free throw to close the run with 40 seconds left in the half. 

Western Illinois hit a triple on its final possession of the half to trim the NIU advantage to five, 41-36, at the break. German led all scorers with 17 in the opening 20 minutes, Kobe Webster had 11 for the Leathernecks. NIU shot 48.5 percent (16-of-33) from the field in the first half, including 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from three, but Western Illinois was nearly identical from the field at 46.4 percent (13-of-28) and was 7-of-10 from behind the three-point line. 

NIU pounded the ball into the post early in the second half with a pair of buckets from James and one from McCarty. A triple from German after the McCarty basket gave the Huskies a nine-point lead, 50-41, three minutes into the second half. 

With the Huskies in front by eight, Western Illinois went on an 8-2 run to trim the NIU lead to just a pair, 65-63.

NIU's lead with four, 69-65, until back-to-back baskets from German helped the lead climb back to eight with 6:21 to go. The lead reached nine but the Leathernecks again had an answer, trimming the NIU advantage right back to four, 82-78, with less than two minutes left. 

Hankerson converted for NIU on the next possession as the Huskies led by a half-dozen with a little over a minute to play. After Western Illinois split a pair of free throws, McCarty made a pair at the line to put the game out of reach.

Webster finished with 26 points for Western Illinois, Zion Young added 16 and James Claar chipped in 10 points. 

NIU will head right back on the road on Saturday afternoon, November 23, as the Huskies visit SIU Edwardsville. Game time against the Cougars is set for 2 p.m.