KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Balanced scoring and defense helped lead the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team to a 73-59 victory over Western Michigan on Tuesday night (Jan. 31) at University Arena. Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) scored 15 points while David Coit (Columbus, N.J.) and Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J.) each had 13 as the Huskies held the Broncos to just 31.3 percent (21-of-67) shooting and 9.1 percent (2-of-22) from three-point range. 

"I thought out guys listened to the game plan," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "I'm super excited for our guys, we had a disappointing loss against Ball State (on Saturday) and they wanted to redeem themselves. We had a good two-day prep, so I'm excited for our guys right now.

"Coming out of the Ball State game, I think the formula to disrupt us is to play inside, throw it against the backboard and then try to go get it. The difference from that game to this game is (Ball State) had 10 threes in the first half and Western Michigan had zero, so we did a really good job of defending the three."

With the win, NIU (9-13, 5-4 MAC) has already matched its win total from a season ago and had recorded back-to-back wins in Kalamazoo for the first time since 1981 and 1982. 

The Huskies outscored the Broncos off turnovers, 15-5, and despite trailing in offensive rebounds, 23-10, scored more second chance points than Western Michigan, 9-8. 

NIU jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the opening four minutes of the contest. Four different Huskies scored, including an old-fashioned three-point play from Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia), as the visitors went in front early. 

Ibarguen finished with seven points and five rebounds. 

An 11-2 run by the Huskies forced a Western Michigan timeout. Coit and Thornton knocked in back-to-back triples to open the run, after a Bronco bucket, Ibarguen scored and Darweshi Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio) added a wing three to give NIU a 20-6 lead with 12:18 left in the half, forcing a Western Michigan timeout.

Hunter had nine points and a career-best eight rebounds.  

The NIU run reached 14-2 on a layup from Nutter and a free throw from Hunter as the Huskies took a 23-8 advantage just before the midway point of the opening half. 

Western Michigan used a 7-0 burst to cut the Huskie lead to 10 until Hunter knocked in a corner triple, his second of the half, to push the NIU lead to 32-19 with just under four minutes to play before the intermission. 

NIU took a 36-24 lead into halftime as Nutter led all scorers with eight in the opening 20 minutes. Lamar Norman Jr. scored a half-dozen to lead Western Michigan in the first half, the Broncos shot just 29.4 percent (10-of-34) from the field, including 0-of-12 from three-point range. 

The Broncos started the second half with a 7-2 burst, trimming the NIU lead to just seven until Thornton made a trifecta and then added a pair of free throws to push the Huskie advantage to 43-31 with just under 16 minutes remaining. 

Thornton had five assists and three steals to go along with his 5-of-8 from the field, 3-of-5 from three and 2-of-2 from the line. 

After Western Michigan got back within eight, 43-35, Thornton knocked in another three to ignite an 8-2 Huskie burst with Nutter finishing at the rim and Coit connecting on a wing triple, giving the Huskies a 51-37 lead. 

Coit grabbed a career-high eight rebounds. 

A 10-0 run for NIU, with Oluwasegun Durosinmi (Lagos, Nigeria), Hunter and Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich.) combining to go 8-of-8 from the charity stripe during the burst, helped the Huskies push their lead to 61-39 with eight minutes left as they closed out their third consecutive road victory. 

Markeese Hastings finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds for Western Michigan, Titus Wright added 16 points and Norman closed with 10. 

NIU will be on the road again on Saturday, Feb. 4, as the Huskies travel to Bowling Green to meet the Falcons. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT on ESPN3.