WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Jakari Spence banked in a triple as the horn sounded to lift Monmouth to a 74-71 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon (Dec 9) at the OceanFirst Bank Center. Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) and Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) each had 21 points for the Huskies, Amos also had a game-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. 

David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) added 15 points for the Huskies. 

"We did a poor job of ball security in the second half," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "This is a learning process for us and yet again we gave up 42 percent from three. Amos did his best with 21 (points) and 11 (rebounds), but we have to get stops. We didn't get stops and they did. We shot 2-for-10 from three (in the second half) and only 46 percent from the free-throw line."

A 9-2 burst in the early going gave Monmouth a six-point edge, 12-6, and forced an early Huskie timeout. NIU responded with the next 10 as the Huskies took a four-point lead. Amos opened the run with a bucket, Oluwasegun Durosinmi (Lagos, Nigeria/St. Bonaventure) added a free throw and Coit netted the next seven as NIU led, 16-12, with just over 12 minutes to play before the intermission. 

After a timeout, the Huskie run reached 12-0 on a pair of free throws from Philmon Gebrewhit (Boston, Mass./DePaul) as the NIU advantage reached a half-dozen.

Monmouth (5-4) ended the run with a basket, but the Huskies scored the next 15 to make it a 27-2 run overall as the Huskies took their largest lead of the half at 19. Gebrewhit started the second half of the burst with a triple, Amos and Nutter each had four as NIU took a 33-14 lead with 6:27 to play before the half, forcing a second first half timeout from Monmouth. 

The Hawks finally ended the run with six-straight points to trim the NIU advantage to 33-20 with four minutes to play before the intermission. 

NIU (5-4) took a 41-29 lead into halftime. Nutter led all scorers with 12, Coit added nine and Amos tallied eight first half points. The Huskies shot 50 percent (12-of-24) from the field in the opening 20 minutes and 77.8 percent (14-of-18) from the free-throw line. 

Monmouth scored the first seven to start the second half before NIU used a 10-3 run to regain its 12-point lead, 51-39, four minutes into the second half. 

The Hawks used a 12-2 run to pull within three, 53-51, but NIU responded with the next seven as the Huskies led, 60-51, with 7:50 left. Gebrewhit opened the run with a basket, Coit added three free throws and Nutter scored to finish the Huskie run.

Monmouth then went on a 15-3 run of its own as the Hawks took a 66-63 lead with a little under four minutes remaining. 

Amos ignited a 6-0 Huskie run as NIU pulled back in front. Nutter added the next four as the Huskies took a 69-66 lead with 1:26 left. 

After Monmouth tied the game with a triple, Amos made a tough baseline jumper with 41 seconds left to give the Huskies a 71-69 advantage. On the next possession, Monmouth earned a trip to the free throw line and Nikita Konstantynovskyi made a pair to even the game at 71 with 20 seconds remaining. 

On the next possession, Monmouth forced a steal with five seconds left and Spence raced to just outside the three-point line before pulling up for a shot that banked in as the horn sounded to give the Hawks the victory. 

Konstantynovskyi led Monmouth with 16 points and nine rebounds, Xander Rice added 14 points. 

The Huskies will return home to host Calumet College on Monday, Dec. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader; the NIU women's basketball team will face Eastern Illinois at 5 p.m. Tickets for all remaining Huskie basketball home games are available now, including the "Holidays with the Huskies" package and the "All MACtion" mini-plan.