CLEVELAND – The No. 7 seed Northern Illinois University men's basketball team was unable to overcome a slow start offensively as the Huskies fell to No. 2 seed Kent State, 76-57, on Thursday (March 9) in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Quarterfinals at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J.) led the way for the Huskies with 13 points. 

Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich.) and David Coit (Columbus, N.J.) each added 10 points, Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia) scored eight points with a career-high 11 rebounds and Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) finished with seven points and six assists. 

"Today was a disappointing loss," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "For the first four minutes, we didn't have the intention and aggression that is needed to play in this magnitude of a game. We chased from there on out, we scored the first two and then it was an uphill climb.

"Take our hats off to Kent State, they executed in the first half. If you look at the numbers, they shot 42 percent (from the field) and 16 percent (from three). If we execute a little bit better… we had too many live ball turnovers that got them out (on the break) early. Just disappointed that we didn't play our best version of basketball as a team to start."

Nutter scored the opening basket of the contest before Kent State came back with the next seven to take the early five-point lead. 

The Kent State lead was six after a free throw from Crump, but Kent State used a 10-2 run to take a 21-7 lead with 8:23 left before the intermission. 

NIU outscored Kent State, 11-10, the remainder of the half as the Golden Flashes took a 31-18 lead into the intermission. 

Malique Jacobs led all scorers with nine in the opening half for Kent State. The Golden Flashes shot 42.9 percent (12-of-28) in the opening 20 minutes while holding the Huskies to 22.2 percent (6-of-27). The two teams combined for just 4-of-25 from beyond the three-point line. Kent State converted 10 NIU turnovers into 15 points in the first half. 

The Huskies found their rhythm offensively early in the second half as NIU was 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from the field, including 2-of-2 from three, in the opening seven minutes after the intermission, but Kent State was 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) as the Golden Flashes increased their lead to 46-32. 

Kent State then used a 12-1 burst to push its lead to 58-33 just past the midway point of the second stanza and the Golden Flashes never looked back. 

NIU shot 54.5 percent (12-of-22) in the second half, but Kent State nearly matched that, shooting 50 percent (17-of-34). The Golden Flashes finished the contest with a 28-8 edge in points off turnovers and a 17-5 advantage in second chance points. 

Jacobs finished with a game-high 19 points for Kent State, Cli'ron Hornbeak scored 16 points, Sincere Carry chipped in 13, Jalen Sullinger scored 11 and Miryne Thomas finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds. 

Kent State advances to the MAC Semifinals on Friday night, Jan. 10, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. NIU finishes the season with a 13-19 overall record.