STATESBORO, Ga. – A 16-0 run late in the first half helped propel Georgia Southern to an 80-65 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team on Monday night (Nov. 4) at Hanner Fieldhouse in the season opener for both teams.
James Dent Jr. (Springfield, Ill./Springfield Southeast) tied a career-high with 24 points, going 8-of-11 from the field, including 5-of-8 from three.
"Some good, some bad, some ugly," said NIU head coach
Rashon Burno. "We turned the ball over 19 times, we have only been averaging nine turnovers in our practices and scrimmages. Our ball security put us in a lot of tough spaces, (Georgia Southern) scored 31 points off those turnovers and we only converted from their 15 turnovers, nine (points), so that is the difference, along with the three-point line, they went 12-of-27.
"We have to do a better job securing the ball and we have to have guys step up and make shots, we were 8-of-30 from three."
Georgia Southern built an early 11-3 advantage before a bucket in the lane from
Ethan Butler (Toronto, Ontario/Southwest Academy) and a triple from Dent brought the Huskies back within three, 11-8, with just under 14 minutes to play in the opening half.
Joe Munden Jr. (Harlem, N.Y./Monsignor Scanlan) then finished from an offensive rebound to cut the Eagles lead to just one, 11-10, but Georgia Southern answered with the next seven as the lead grew back to 18-10.
Butler and Dent scored, followed by a triple from the wing by
Quentin Jones (Chicago, Ill./Marian Catholic), as the Huskies trimmed the Georgia Southern lead back to just one again, 18-17, with 9:20 remaining in the first half.
Butler finished with 10 points and tied for the team lead with six rebounds to go along with four steals. Munden and
Terry Copeland Jr. (Orange, N.J./Legacy Early College) also grabbed six boards.
The Eagles used a 16-0 run to push their lead to 34-17 with just less than four minutes left in the opening 20 minutes.
Georgia Southern led 40-24 at the intermission. Dent led all scorers with 13 points for the Huskies, Adante' Holiman had 11 to pace the Eagles. Georgia Southern shot 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field in the first half, including 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from three-point range.
A 10-5 burst trimmed the Georgia Southern lead to 61-48 with 8:39 left to play as
Nasir Muhammad (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) finished a tough layup through contact. NIU then had the ball and a look at a three that would have cut the lead to just 10, but the triple try came up short and the Eagles scored the next three as the lead ballooned to 64-48 with just under eight minutes left, putting the game out of reach.
The Huskies shot 48 percent (12-of-25) from the field in the second half as they finished the contest shooting 38.6 percent (22-of-57). Georgia Southern cooled off in the second half to finish the game 31-of-64 from the floor (48.4 percent) and 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) from three-point range.
Holiman scored 19 points to lead the way for Georgia Southern, Bradley Douglas added 17 points.
NIU will return home on Thursday, Nov. 7, as the Huskies host Holy Cross (Ind.) in the home opener. Tipoff against the Saints is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT, please note the earlier start time for Huskie weeknight home games this season. Tickets for Thursday's contest, and all NIU Basketball games, are available at NIUHuskies.com/tickets.
