BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Tied at 60 with less than a minute to play, Bowling Green used a five-point burst to edge the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team, 66-64, on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 18) at the Stroh Center. Senior Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a game-high 19 points, sophomore Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) added 13 points and senior Noah McCarty (Rock Falls, Ill./Sterling Newman) chipped in 10 points and a team-best eight rebounds. 

"We had seven or eight chances to take the lead in the second half, we finally did, but then (Bowling Green) made plays," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "The one big play, the corner three, we had two guys on him, but he still made the shot.

"Second chance points cost us the game (Bowling Green had 18 to eight for NIU) and a few backdoors. We practiced everyone of their backdoors, but we weren't down and alert, which was six points on layups. The offensive rebounds, they had seven in the first half and nine more (in the second half), our first shot defense was exceptional."

Even 60-60 after a layup by German, Bowling Green's Dylan Frye made a tough corner triple, his only three of the night. with 50 seconds left to give the Falcons a three-point lead. After a Bowling Green stop, the Falcons made a pair of free throws to push their lead to five with 29 seconds remaining. 

McCarty scored to cut the Bowling Green lead to 65-62 before Frye split a pair of free throws to give the Falcons a four-point lead with eight seconds left. NIU scored at the buzzer for the final two-point margin. 

NIU (9-9, 2-3 MAC) shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) from the field while holding Bowling Green to just 32.8 percent (19-of-58), but the Falcons had an edge at the free-throw line, going 21-of-24 (87.5 percent) while the Huskies went 12-of-14 (85.7 percent). 

Early in the contest, a bucket by sophomore Darius Beane (Carbondale, Ill./Southern Illinois), making his first career start, gave the Huskies a 7-4 lead before Bowling Green answered with 11 of the next 14 as the Falcons took a 15-10 lead with 11:23 to play in the opening half. 

The Bowling Green lead had climbed to seven before a jumper by Hankerson and a triple from German brought the Huskies back within a pair, 20-18, with 6:43 left before the intermission. 

With the Falcons in front by a pair, Bowling Green used a 7-0 burst to take a 32-23 lead before Hankerson stopped the Falcon run with a bucket with 2:21 left in the half.  

Bowling Green (13-5, 4-1 MAC) still led by seven until a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left in the half closed the scoring in the opening 20 minutes and gave the Falcons a 36-27 lead at the intermission. 

Daeqwon Plowden had 10 points to lead the way for Bowling Green in the first half, German had seven to pace the Huskies. 

NIU scored the first eight to start the second half, trimming the Bowling Green lead to just one. Hankerson scored the first four and German match him with the next four as the Huskies cut the Falcons lead to 36-35 with 16:45 to play. 

Bowling Green pushed its lead back to a half-dozen before McCarty connected on a triple from the corner to slash that lead in half, 50-47, with just over eight minutes left. 

The Falcons went back in front by four before an old-fashioned three-point play from McCarty and a triple from Hankerson gave NIU a 53-51 lead with 6:32 to play. 

The lead swung back to Bowling Green until German evened it again at 58 with a triple with a little under four minutes left. 

Both teams scored a pair as the game was tied, 60-60, entering the final minute. 

Plowden finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way for Bowling Green. Frye added 14 points and Tayler Mattos chipped in 11 and eight rebounds for the Falcons, who outrebounded the Huskies, 42-32, in the contest, including 16-8 on the offensive end. 

The Huskies will be on the road again on Tuesday night, January 21, when they travel to Kent State before returning home to host Western Michigan next Saturday, January 25.