ATHENS, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team and Ohio traded 12 leads and were tied nine times but a late 10-0 run helped lift the Bobcats to a 77-68 victory over the Huskies on Tuesday night (Feb. 21) at the Ohio University Convocation Center. Five Huskies scored in double figures, led by 17 points from Darweshi Hunter (Phoenix, Ariz.)

Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia) and Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J.) each scored 13 points, Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich.) recorded his third double-double in the last four games with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) had 10 points and nine assists. 

Ohio scored the opening five points of the contest before NIU answered with the next six as the Huskies to lead by one in a precursor of what would turn out to be a back-and-forth contest. 

With the Huskies in front, 12-11, Ohio used back-to-back triples to take a five-point lead, 17-12, with 13:31 to play before the intermission. NIU was within a pair, 18-16, before the Bobcats went on a 10-2 run to take a 28-18 advantage just past the midway point of the first half. 

The Huskies answered with the next seven as Crump made a free throw, followed by baskets from Nutter, Crump and Ibarguen, as NIU trimmed the Ohio lead to 28-25 with just under seven minutes to play before the break. 

Ohio's lead was still three until the Huskies went on a 6-0 spurt to take a 37-34 lead. Hunter, Nutter and Thornton scored during the mini run for NIU. The Bobcats hit a corner triple, their seventh three of the half, to tie the game at 37 at the break. 

Dwight Wilson led all scorers with 10 points for Ohio in the opening 20 minutes, Hunter and Ibarguen each had eight to pace the Huskies. 

Ohio scored first to open the second half before back-to-back buckets from Ibarguen, including an alley-oop from Thornton, forced an early second half timeout from the Bobcats as NIU took a 41-39 lead just over two minutes into the second stanza. 

With Ohio in front by a pair, Nutter started a five-point Huskie burst with a layup through contact. Crump added a free throw and Nutter again finished at the rim, giving the Huskies a 51-48 lead with a little over 12 minutes remaining. 

NIU's lead was still three after a tough finish by Hunter, but six-straight by the hosts helped give Ohio a 62-59 advantage with 5:44 left to play. 

The Huskies were within a pair, 66-64, with 2:35 remaining when Ohio used a 10-0 run to push its lead to a dozen and claim the victory. 

Wilson finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bobcats. Jaylin Hunter scored 16 points and Elmore James added 10 for Ohio. The Bobcats shot 9-of-28 (32.1 percent) from three-point range to just 1-of-19 (5.3 percent) for the Huskies and Ohio was 10-of-14 (71.4 percent) from the free-throw line compared to 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) for NIU. 

The Huskies will head back on the road for the final time in the regular season on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 25, when they visit Central Michigan. Game time against the Chippewas is slated for 1 p.m. CT. NIU then closes the regular season with a pair of home games against Buffalo (Tuesday, Feb. 28) and Eastern Michigan (Friday, March 3). Tickets for NIU's two remaining home games are available now by logging on to NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225).