MUNCIE, Ind. – Trailing by as many as 17 early in the second half, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team rallied to within five, but was unable to complete the comeback as they fell, 87-77, to Ball State on Tuesday night (Feb. 14) at Worthen Arena. David Coit (Columbus, N.J.) scored a game-high 22 points, along with six assists and four rebounds. 

Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J.) added 18 points, Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich.) scored 16 points and eight rebounds while Darweshi Hunter (Phoenix, Ariz.) added 15 points. 

Ball State shot 51.7 percent (31-of-60) from the field in the contest, including 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from three-point range. 

"These guys are competitors," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "Coming in knowing we were down a leader in (Kaleb Thornton), guys stepped up. I thought we got worn down, down the stretch in the first half and that put us in a tough situation, down 10 at the half. We missed some good opportunities to cut into the lead, but we didn't execute. These guys are resilient, (Ball State) is a really good team, take our hats off, they executed when they needed to."

A triple from Hunter gave the Huskies an early 6-3 lead before Ball State used a 15-2 run to take an 18-8 lead seven minutes into the contest. 

Nutter answered with back-to-back finishes at the rim to bring the Huskies back within a half-dozen.

After Ball State went back in front by eight, NIU used a 9-0 run to take a 21-20 lead. Coit opened the run with a layup and then added a triple before a pair of buckets from Crump gave the Huskies a one-point lead with just over eight minutes left in the first half. 

The lead swung back to the Cardinals, and they pushed their advantage to a half-dozen until seven-straight points gave the lead back to NIU. Crump started the run with a basket, Hunter finished a layup on the break and Crump knocked in a trifecta from the wing to give the Huskies a 31-30 lead with 4:03 to play before the break. 

Ball State closed the half on a 13-2 run as the Cardinals took a 43-33 lead into halftime. Coit led NIU with 11 points in the opening 20 minutes, Jarron Coleman had 11 to pace the Cardinals. Ball State went 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) from the free-throw line in the first half while the Huskies were 0-of-2. 

The Cardinals scored the first seven points to start the second half as they pushed the lead to 50-33. 

NIU climbed back within 11, 58-47, when Hunter knocked down a triple with just over 13 minutes to play. 

The Huskies continued to chip away at the Ball State lead and cut the Cardinal lead to five as Nutter capped a 7-0 NIU burst with a pair of free throws. Hunter knocked in a three and made a short jumper to ignite the run as NIU cut the Ball State advantage to 61-56 with 8:13 left. 

NIU was still within five, 67-62, until Ball State went on a 5-0 spurt to double its lead to 72-62 with 3:38 to play and the Huskies would get no closer than seven the rest of the way. 

Payton Sparks led Ball State with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Coleman and Demarius Jacobs each scored 17 points, Jaylin Sellers had 13 and Mickey Pearson chipped in 10 points. 

NIU will return home on Saturday, Feb. 18, for its annual "Cram the Convo" doubleheader. The Huskie women's basketball team will host Ball State at 1 p.m., followed by the men's basketball team against Miami at 3:30. Tickets for "Cram the Convo" and all remaining home games are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225).