DEKALB, Ill. – Bowling Green shot 60.8 percent (31-of-51) from the field, including 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from three-point range as the Falcons defeated the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team, 92-83, on Tuesday night (Jan. 18) at the NIU Convocation Center. 

Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) netted a career-best 32, going 12-of-16 from the field, 5-of-6 from three, but the Falcons had six players score in double figures, led by 21 points from Samari Curtis. 

"Tonight's game was a tale of two halves," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We executed our game plan in the first half, minus making free throws, we had a good flow to our tempo. With a team like Bowling Green, you really want to be smart and strategic with how much you get up-and-down. We tried to be smart and have an awareness of that, but we didn't come out to play in the first four minutes (of the second half)."

NIU (5-9, 2-2 MAC) and Bowling Green went into halftime tied at 32, but the Falcons scored the first five points of the second half through Daeqwon Plowden. The Huskies pulled back even at 39 as Kaleb Thornton scored off a turnover, but Bowling Green answered with the next seven, taking a 46-39 lead five minutes into the second half. 

Thornton finished with 13 points and a career-high nine assists. 

Bowling Green's (9-8, 2-4 MAC) lead grew to nine on another basket by Plowden before a triple from Williams trimmed the Falcon lead back to a half-dozen. 

Williams is the first Huskie to score 30-or-more points in a game since Eugene German had 31 against Bowling Green in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Semifinals on March 15, 2019. 

Still in front by six, the Falcons knocked in three consecutive triples as the visitor's lead ballooned to 66-51 just past the halfway point of the second stanza. 

The Huskies quickly answered with seven-straight, ignited by a jumper from Hankerson. Williams scored off a turnover and Thornton canned a trifecta as NIU trimmed the Bowling Green lead to 66-58. 

Hankerson netted 11 points in the contest, going 4-of-6 from the field. 

Curtis scored the next however, converting an old-fashioned three-point play as well as a conventional triple to put the Falcons in front, 72-58, with 7:24 left. 

NIU shot 54.1 percent (20-of-37) from the field in the second half, including 50 percent (7-of-14) from three-point range, but couldn't keep pace with Bowling Green's 70.4 percent (19-of-27) shooting in the second 20 minutes. 

Plowden finished with 17 points for Bowling Green, Treg Diggs chipped in 16, Josiah Fulcher scored 13 points, Matiss Kulackovskis had 12 and Myron Gordon finished with 10 points and a team-high six assists. 

In the first half, both teams got off to a slow start offensively as the game was tied at seven midway through the opening stanza. Bowling Green built a lead as large as eight late in the first half, but NIU finished with an 8-0 run to pull even at the intermission. 

Zool Kueth (Gallatin, Tenn./Pratt CC) made a triple to start the burst, Chinedu Kingsley Okanu (Lynwood, Ill./Vincennes University) added a layup and Kueth made his second triple as the Huskies and Falcons were knotted at 32 after 20 minutes. 

Up next for the Huskies will be a pair of road games starting on Saturday, Jan. 22, when they travel to Oxford, Ohio to meet Miami. NIU will then visit Ohio on Tuesday, Jan. 25, before returning home to host Ball State on Thursday, Jan. 27 in a rescheduled contest from December. 

Huskie basketball tickets are on sale now, including Huskie Flex Plans. Purchase vouchers for $6 each and use them throughout the season to attend Huskie men's and women's basketball home games. Simply redeem vouchers for tickets at the box office prior to the game. Tickets can be purchased online at NIUHuskies.com/MyHuskies or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).