MUNCIE, Ind. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team trailed by as much as 15 in the second half before charging back to within one, but Ball State held off the late Huskie rally to claim a 63-59 victory over NIU on Tuesday night (Feb. 11) at Worthen Arena.

Senior Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a team-high 18 points, junior Zaire Mateen (Queens, N.Y./Laramie County CC) and freshman Tyler Cochran (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) each came off the bench to add 10 points. 
 
"The positive is it was an unbelievable comeback, but you have to finish," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "(Ball State) made an incredible shot to extend (the lead) to four (in the final minute) … It was a valiant effort, we knew the game was going to be like this, it was hard-fought by both teams and it is always like that when we play Ball State."

Leading by seven at the break, Ball State scored the first seven to start the second half as the Cardinals took a 36-22 lead.  

Five-straight points from sophomore Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) trimmed the Ball State lead to 39-29 with just under 15 minutes remaining, but the Cardinals answered with the next four to push their lead back to 14. 

Hankerson finished with nine points.

A put-back from Cochran just before the shot clock, a bucket from senior Noah McCarty (Rock Falls, Ill./Sterling Newman) and a pullup jumper from Hankerson helped NIU trim the Ball State lead to 52-45 with 6:38 to go. 

German split a pair of free throws but got his own miss of the second and drove for a layup to get the Huskies within three, 54-51, with 4:51 left. 

Ball State (14-10, 7-4 MAC) went back up by five before baskets from senior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) and German cut the Cardinal lead to just one, 56-55, with 3:35 to go. The Ball State lead was still one when Ishmael El-Amin knocked in a triple with 26 seconds to play, giving the Cardinals a 60-56 lead. 

After the Ball State lead grew back to five, Mateen knocked in a three with 11.5 seconds to play, pulling NIU back within a pair, 61-59. Ball State made a pair of free throws and NIU came up empty on its next possession as the Cardinals held on for the victory. 

El-Amin scored a game-high 22 points, Kyle Mallers and Tahjai Teague each added 12 points. 

Ball State jumped out to a 9-0 lead to open the contest until James finished at the rim to kickstart the Huskie offense. 

NIU (15-10, 8-4 MAC) answered with the next half-dozen, including four from German, as the Huskies trimmed the Ball State lead to 9-6 with 11:03 left in the opening half. 

The Cardinal lead grew back to seven before a bucket from sophomore Darius Beane (Carbondale, Ill./Southern Illinois) and a layup off a steal from Hankerson brought NIU back within three, 13-10. 

Ball State led by four after a pair of free throws from Cochran; the Cardinals then used a 6-1 burst to take a 25-16 lead with a little over four minutes to play before the break. 

The Ball State advantage ballooned to 11 before baskets from German and junior Nathan Scott (Naperville, Ill./Olney Central College) trimmed the Ball State lead to 27-20 with just over a minute to play in the opening half. The two teams traded points in the final minute as Ball State took a 29-22 lead into the intermission. 

NIU will be on the road again on Saturday afternoon, February 15, when it travels to Oxford, Ohio to meet Miami. Game time against the RedHawks is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN3.