DEKALB, Ill. – David Coit (Columbus, N.J.) scored 23 points and Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J.) added a career-best 22 as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team downed Central Michigan, 73-54, on Tuesday night (Jan. 10) at the NIU Convocation Center. 

The Huskies shot 49 percent (25-of-51) from the field, and 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from three, as they earned their first win in Mid-American Conference play. 

"It was a game that we needed to win," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "Especially coming off the two-game road trip to Buffalo and Akron … we needed to put a complete game together. 

"These guys really did a good job of coming out and understanding the gameplan, understanding what Central Michigan would like to do from an offensive and defense standpoint, and we executed the gameplan. This was the first time in a long time, probably since Indiana State, that we felt like we executed what we wanted to from start-to-finish."

NIU scored 37 points off 22 Central Michigan turnovers and also converted 23 fast break points in the contest. 

A pair of free throws from Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) and a basket by Nutter helped give the Huskies an early 8-6 lead inside the opening five minutes of the contest. The bucket by Nutter was the first of eight-straight Huskie points for the Newark, N.J. native. 

Nutter went 7-of-10 from the field and also grabbed six rebounds. 

With the game tied at 17, Coit and Thornton knocked in back-to-back triples to put the Huskies in front by a half-dozen. The NIU run grew to 10-0 on a free throw by Coit and another trifecta from the Huskie guard as NIU took a 27-17 lead with 7:51 left in the opening half. 

After Central Michigan answered with the next three, Thornton knocked in a triple and Coit converted to give NIU a 32-20 advantage with just under five minutes to play in the half. 

Thornton finished with 16 points in the contest on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. 

The Huskie lead grew to as much as 15 on a triple by Darweshi Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio), but Central Michigan scored the final five points of the half to trim the NIU advantage to 40-30 at the break. 

Coit led all scorers with 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, Brian Taylor had seven to pace the Chippewas. NIU scored 20 points off 12 Central Michigan turnovers in the first half and went 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from beyond the arc. 

Five minutes into the second half, with NIU still in front by 10, Coit knocked down his fourth triple of the contest, and then added a layup as the Huskies took a 52-37 lead with 14:16 to play. 

Coit went 9-of-15 from the floor in the contest, including 4-of-8 from three. 

A pair of buckets from Nutter helped ignited an 8-2 Huskie burst as Coit added a basket and Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich.) made a pair of free throws as NIU pushed its lead to 61-41 with 9:31 left. 

Crump finished with five points and a team-high seven rebounds. 

Despite having each of its three tallest players fouled out for the final 6:36 of the contest, playing the remainder of the game with no one taller than 6-foot-6, NIU held Central Michigan to just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) shooting in the second half. 

Taylor led the Chippewas with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Markus Harding added 11 points. 

The Huskies will continue their homestand on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 14, as they welcome Toledo to the NIU Convocation Center for the second game of a Huskie basketball doubleheader. The NIU women's basketball team will host Ohio at 1 p.m., followed by the men's game against the Rockets at 3:30. Tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling the NIU Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225).