MUNCIE, Ind. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team cut a 20-point second half deficit to as little as six late, but Ball State held on for an 81-71 victory over the Huskies on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 27) at Worthen Arena. 

David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) scored a team-high 25 points, Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) added 20 and Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) scored 13 points with a team-high eight rebounds as NIU shot 58.8 percent (20-of-34) from the field in the second half to help mark a late charge.

"The effort was good, for the most part," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "The second half has been our issue all year and that didn't show up (today), but the last three minutes of the first half put us down by 13 (at halftime). We are undermanned, particularly at the guard spot, but these kids fought, now we just have to execute. We have to regroup and hopefully get (players) back before we go to Central (Michigan)."

Ball State (11-9, 3-5 MAC) went 23-of-26 (88.5 percent) from the free-throw line in the contest while NIU was 9-of-13 (69.2 percent). 

The Cardinals led 39-26 at halftime and after the intermission, the Ball State lead grew to 57-37 with 12:25 left. NIU responded with a 10-2 run as the Huskies trimmed the Cardinal advantage back to just a dozen, 59-47, with 10 minutes left to play. 

The hosts answered with a 6-1 spurt as the Cardinal lead was pushed to 65-48 with 8:22 remaining. 

NIU (6-13, 0-7 MAC) continued to chip away as the Huskies used a 10-0 run to cut the Ball State lead to just eight, 72-65, with 2:24 left. Coit opened the run with a pair of free throws before he and Nutter each added a pair of buckets to cut the Cardinal lead to single-digits. 

After a pair of free throws by the Cardinals, NIU scored the next four on another basket from Nutter and a steal and layup from Zion Russell (Upper Marlboro, Md./National Christian Academy), bringing the Huskies within a half-dozen, 75-69, with 1:45 left. 

NIU got a stop and had a chance to cut into the lead even more, but the Huskies came up empty and Ball State closed the game out at the free-throw line. 

Basheer Jihad scored 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Ball State. Davion Bailey added 13 points, Jalin Anderson scored 11 while Mason Jones and Trent Middleton Jr. each chipped in 10 points. 

A pair of buckets from Amos and a dunk by Nutter gave NIU an early 6-3 lead. Ball State answered with the next eight to take an 11-6 lead with 15:11 to play in the opening half. 

Triples from Nutter and Coit, followed by a pair of free throws from Will Lovings-Watts (Jeffersonville, Ind./Putnam Science), gave the lead back to the Huskies, 14-11, but the Cardinals scored the next 13 to move in front, 24-14, with 8:20 to play before the intermission. 

Ball State had an eight-point lead before using a 6-0 burst to push its advantage to 32-18 with a little under six minutes to play in the half. 

The Cardinals took a 39-26 lead into halftime. Jihad led all scorers with 13 points in the first half for Ball State, Coit had 11 to pace NIU. Ball State shot 45.2 percent (14-of-31) from the field in the opening half while holding NIU to just 28.1 percent (9-of-32) shooting. 

NIU will be back on the road on Tuesday night, Jan. 30, when the Huskies travel to Central Michigan. The Huskies return home next Saturday, Feb. 3, when they host Eastern Michigan. Tickets for next Saturday's contest, including the 2024 Pack which features four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and four chips for just $40, are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets. The 2024 Pack is available by using the promo code 2024PACK.