YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team led for less than 10 seconds on Tuesday night (Feb. 25), but it was enough to claim a 73-71 victory over Eastern Michigan at the EMU Convocation Center. The Huskies trailed by as much as 17 in the contest, and by four with 20 seconds to go, before triples from sophomore Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) and senior Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) gave the Huskies the win. 

German finished with a game-high 27 points, including seven triples, one shy of the NIU single-game record. Freshman Tyler Cochran (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) scored a career-high 15 points and junior Zaire Mateen (Queens, N.Y./Laramie County CC) tied a career-high with 15 points, on five threes. 

NIU (17-11, 10-5 MAC) tied a school record with 14 made triples, set previously against Chicago State twice (Feb. 27, 1988 and Dec. 22, 2018) as well as Ball State on March 4, 2016. The Huskies shot 42.4 percent (14-of-33) from beyond the long line and 45 percent (27-of-60) overall in the contest. 

"It was a gutsy performance from Zaire Mateen," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "When you are down 17, you need a spark and he definitely sparked us in the first half. Eugene German, huge three to win it. People might forget Trendon Hankerson's three when we were down four on the out of bounds play was a huge shot … It was a helluva road win."

The Huskies overcame a 21-shot advantage by Eastern Michigan at the free-throw line as the Eagles went 20-of-28 (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe to just 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) for NIU. 

A 6-1 burst by Eastern Michigan gave the Eagles a 65-56 lead with a little over seven minutes to play. German answered with the next four to pull the Huskies back within five with 4:54 left.

Eastern Michigan's lead was a half-dozen when Hankerson made his first shot of the night, a pull-up jumper, with 2:46 to play. Senior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) then made a bucket to get the Huskies within a pair, 69-67, before Ty Groce answered with a floater in the lane with less than a minute left as the Eagles led 71-67. 

After empty possessions for both teams, Hankerson knocked in a triple with 17 seconds left off a baseline out of bounds play, with senior Noah McCarty (Rock Falls, Ill./Sterling Newman) providing the assists, his career-high sixth of the game. As a team, NIU finished with 17 assists on 27 made field goals. 

Leading 71-70, Eastern Michigan threw the ball the length of the floor to Groce who was unable to convert at the rim as the ball caromed back to the Huskies. NIU raced back the other way and German canned a long trifecta to give NIU its first lead of the night, 73-71, with less than 10 seconds left. 

On the final possession, all Eastern Michigan was able to get was an off-balance three-point attempt that fell well short as the Huskies escaped with their first win in Ypsilanti since 2012. 

Thomas Binelli scored a team-high 26 points for the Eagles, Groce added 12, Boubacar Toure scored 11 points and Darion Spottsville chipped in 10 points. 

The win was NIU's 10th conference victory of the season, its most since recording 12 during the 2005-06 season. 

Eastern Michigan (15-13, 5-10 MAC) raced out to an 8-0 lead early in the contest. The Eagles lead was six when Eastern Michigan used an 11-0 run to take a 22-5 lead with 11:11 to play in the opening half. 

Eastern Michigan's lead was 16 when the Huskies used a 7-1 run to cut the Eagles advantage to 24-14 with a little over eight minutes to play before halftime. Cochran scored the first four of the burst and sophomore Darius Beane (Carbondale, Ill./Southern Illinois) knocked in a corner triple as NIU cut the Eastern Michigan lead to 10. 

Beane finished with eight points and six rebounds. 

An 8-2 burst brought NIU within a half-dozen with 4:53 to play in the first half. Cochran scored the first basket of the run and German knocked in a pair of triples as the Huskies cut the Eastern Michigan lead to 30-24. 

NIU continued to connect from three-point range over the final five minutes of the opening half as Mateen made a trio of trifectas and German closed the half with a triple to pull the Huskies even, 37-37, at the break. 

Eastern Michigan took a seven-point lead, 52-45, in the opening five minutes of the second half but NIU answered with a triple from Mateen and a floater from Cochran as the Huskies trimmed the Eagle advantage to just a pair, 52-50, with 13:06 left. 

The Eagles led by four until a 6-1 burst gave Eastern Michigan a 65-56 lead with 7:13 remaining, leading to the dramatic final minute comeback from the Huskies. 

NIU will hit the road for the final time during the regular season on Saturday, February 29, when the Huskies travel to Western Michigan. Game time against the Broncos is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CT.