KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan overcame a 15-point halftime deficit to force overtime before outlasting the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team, 95-90, on Tuesday night (Jan. 9) at University Arena. The Broncos shot 58.6 percent (17-of-29) from the field in the second half, to help spoil David Coit's (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) first career double-double as he finished with 32 points and a career-high 10 assists. 

Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) scored 14 points and Quaran McPherson (Queens, N.Y./Nebraska) had 12 points. Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia/Seward County CC) finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and a career-best 13 rebounds. 

Western Michigan (6-9, 3-0 MAC) went 25-of-47 (53.2 percent) from the free-throw line to NIU's 18-of-24 (75 percent). Four Huskies fouled out in the contest. 

"We have to put two halves together and we didn't," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We got annihilated on free throws, 47-24, a lot of missed calls, but we didn't do anything with aggression in the second half. We scored on the first possession, but we were outscored by 15 points, we have an inability to play the right away when we are ahead."

NIU (6-9, 0-3 MAC) scored first in the overtime as the two teams traded the first eight points of the extra session. The Broncos then took their first lead on a three-point play, but NIU responded with a three-point play from Ethan Butler (Toronto, Ontario/Oregon) to tie the game at 86. 

Butler finished with a career-best nine points. 

Western Michigan scored the next six to lead 92-86 with just over 30 seconds left to seal the victory. 

Coit and Will Lovings-Watts (Jeffersonville, Ind./Putnam Science) knocked in triples to give the Huskies a quick 6-0 lead in the contest. After a trio of Bronco free throws, Lovings-Watts added his second triple and Amos finished at the rim as NIU led 11-3 in the early going. 

Two more triples from Coit, and a trifecta by Philmon Gebrewhit (Boston, Mass./DePaul), helped the NIU lead grow to 29-14 with just under nine minutes to play in the half.

NIU's advantage grew to 16 following an old-fashioned three-point by from McPherson, but Western Michigan used an 8-4 mini-run to pull back within 10, 38-28, with 4:15 remaining in the first half. 

Amos scored five points in the final four minutes of the opening half as NIU pushed its lead to 48-33 at the break. Coit led all scorers with 17 first half points as the Huskies shot 58.1 percent (18-of-31) from the field and 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from three-point range. Javonte Brown had 12 points to lead Western Michigan in the opening 20 minutes. 

Western Michigan opened the second half with a 7-2 burst to cut the Huskie lead to 10, 50-40. Amos answered with a triple and Ibarguen converted a lob dunk from Coit as the NIU advantage grew back to 15 less than three minutes into the second half. 

With NIU in front by a dozen, Western Michigan used a 12-5 burst to climb within five, 64-59, with 8:20 left to play. The teams then exchanged triples as Coit made his fifth of the game and Amos added his fourth, putting the visitors up 70-61 with 7:11 to go. 

Back-to-back Bronco trifectas brought the home team within three, 70-67, before Coit converted a driving layup to put the Huskies in front by five with 5:24 left. 

A layup by Coit ignited a 6-0 Huskie burst, capped by a layup by Butler off an assist from Coit, giving NIU a 76-67 lead with just over four minutes left. 

Western Michigan responded with the next nine as the Broncos tied the game at 76 with 1:47 remaining. McPherson made a pair of free throws to give the lead back to the Huskies. Western Michigan then split a pair of free throws to cut the lead to one and Seth Hubbard made a layup with 24 seconds left to put the Broncos in front, 79-78. 

McPherson split a pair of free throws for NIU with 10 seconds left and then the Huskies got a stop to force overtime. 

B. Artis White finished with 25 points for Western Michigan, Hubbard added 21, Brown scored 16 and Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro chipped in 12 points. The Broncos had a 19-2 edge in second chance points in the contest.  

NIU will return home for the next three contests, beginning on Saturday, Jan. 13, when the Huskies host Bowling Green at 3 p.m. Tickets for Saturday's game, 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.