ATLANTA, Ga. – Five players scored in double figures, led by a career-high 21 points from Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team topped Little Rock, 98-93, on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 18) to clinch the Capitol Challenge. The Huskies built a lead of as much as 20 in the first half before holding off a second half charge from the Trojans. 

With the victory, NIU moves to 4-1 on the season, its best five-game start since the 2015-16 season. David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) scored 20 points with eight rebounds and six assists, Philmon Gebrewhit (Boston, Mass./DePaul) had a career-best 19 points and six assists, Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) added 16 points and seven rebounds while Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Fraschels, Switzerland/Ursping) scored a career-high 15 points. 

"It was a tale of two halves," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We were up 18 (at halftime) and the dangerous part of being up 18, especially with a relatively young team, is I didn't know if we had enough, especially coming off a grueling game on Friday. I'm happy, but we didn't do a good job of managing the bench, (Zarique) Nutter and (David) Coit's (minutes) were too high, but it is a learning experience and I love teaching through winning."

The Huskies shot 58.3 percent (28-of-48) from the field in the contest, including 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from three-point range, and went 33-of-44 (75 percent) from the free-throw line. 

NIU jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the opening four minutes as Konan Niederhauser scored the first four of the contest, Nutter added the next four and Gebrewhit converted at the rim to give the Huskies an early double-digit lead. 

After a free throw by Little Rock, NIU added the next six on a dunk by Will Lovings-Watts (Jeffersonville, Ind./Putnam Science) and free throws from Coit and Zion Russell (Upper Marlboro, Md./National Christian Academy), as NIU led 16-1 with 13:11 to play in the half. 

The first field goal of the contest for Little Rock came with 12:06 to play before halftime as the Trojans knocked in a triple. Each of Little Rock's first four baskets came from behind the arc as they trimmed the NIU lead to as little as seven, 24-17, just past the midway point of the half. 

Amos then caught fire from deep for the Huskies, knocking in four first half triples, the last of which extended the NIU lead to 44-26 with 5:20 to play before the intermission. Gebrewhit added a bucket as the Huskies extended their lead to 20, the largest of the half.

Little Rock cut the NIU advantage down to just 13 with a little over a minute left before the intermission but a pair of free throws from Gebrewhit and an old-fashioned three-point play by Nutter gave the Huskies a 58-40 lead at halftime. 

Konan Niederhauser led all scorers with 13 points in the opening 20 minutes, Amos added a dozen while Gebrewhit and Nutter each scored 10. NIU shot 62.1 percent (18-of-29) from the field in the half and went 17-of-22 (77.3 percent) from the free-throw line. 

Little Rock (1-2) cut the Huskie lead to 62-48 early in the second half before a triple from Coit and a pair of free throws by Nutter pushed NIU's advantage back to 19 with 16:42 to play. 

The Trojans responded with an 11-1 run as they cut the Huskie advantage to 68-59 with just under 13 minutes remaining. Nutter and Gebrewhit answered with layups for NIU as the Huskie lead grew back to 13. 

A 13-4 run by Little Rock brought the Trojans within three, 83-80, before NIU scored six of the next seven to go in front 89-81 with 3:53 left. 

The Trojans came back with the next five to pull within three, 89-86, but once again NIU had the answer as a triple by Coit and a pair of free throws from Gebrewhit increased the advantage to eight, 94-86, with 2:14 left. 

Little Rock climbed back to within three twice more, at 95-92 and 96-93, but each time the Huskies had an answer to hold off the Trojans as NIU earned its fourth victory of the season. 

DeAntoni Gordon led Little Rock with 26 points, KK Robinson added 20 for the Trojans and Pavle Kuzmanovic chipped in 15 points. 

NIU's four-game road trip continues next Saturday, Nov. 25, when the Huskies make the short trip to Chicago to face DePaul at Wintrust Arena. Tipoff between the Huskies and Blue Demons is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will be televised on Fox Sports 2.